The Effects of a Special Motivational Library Program on High School Students’ Library Use and Attitudes

Abstract

A randomized experiment was performed in five high schools in which a random half of students in a sophomore English class received a special 8-week library-oriented treatment designed to improve students’ understanding of, attitudes toward, and use of the school library. The treatment was found to have a significant effect on students’ library use and the proportion of students using the library for the participating librarians at the five high schools; the effect of the treatment differed greatly among the participating librarians, indeed, the treatment-by-librarian interaction was so great that the results cannot be safely generalized to the population of high school librarians. The treatment effect was also significant for improving students’ attitudes toward the library/librarian and can be safely generalized to the population of high school librarians. There was no measurable effect on students’ reading attitudes. An unobtrusive response integrity scale indicated that differences in students’ reported attitudes were not due to the socially desirable response set.

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