Evidence of School Library Effects: Empirical Findings Challenge Long-Held Professional Beliefs

Abstract

School library (SL) research has focused excessively on positive results from poorly designed and executed studies.While SL practitioners believe there is a preponderance of evidence showing the positive effects of school librarians on student achievement, the reality is drastically different.This study uses a statewide school building dataset and multiple models to investigate the effects of three different measures of school librarian presence on different measures of student achievement, while controlling for a wide range of student/school demographics, climate and prior academic achievement.The lack of significant SL effects from the statistical models in this study call into question much of prior research findings and emphasizes the need for more rigorous research designs and analyses.

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