Educational/Literacy Impact

In Florida high schools, FCAT [Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test] scores are higher where:The library media center is staffed more hours per week.There are more certified library media specialists.There are more paid library media staff members.There are more interlibrary loans provided to other schools in the district.There are more visits to the library media center to use technologyThere are more networked computers in the school and more computers with Internet access.There are more computers in the library media center and more computers have Internet access.

The National Library of Finland coordinated a customer survey for users of research and special libraries as well as public libraries in 2010. The first national online questionnaire was conducted in 2006. The number of responses rose by 56% compared to the previous survey. In the public library sector, over 80% of the users agreed that the library services had supported their cultural and literary interests. Around 80% of the university and university applied sciences library users thought that libraries had helped to improve the quality of their work and studies, the same was true for 71% of the special library respondents. In all libraries, the staff's willingness to provide assistance was one of the most important factors affecting the quality of service. In terms of their service attitude, libraries were assessed as having succeeded as well or even slightly better than two years ago.

Through the use of a nationwide telephone survey, library case studies, and a nationwide Internet survey of public access computing patrons, this approach will generate generalizable quantitative data on the extent and distribution of the use of public access computing resources, as well as provide rich contextual data that will help in the understanding of how patrons use the computer and Internet connections in public libraries and the impact it has on their lives. Further, the mixed methods approach will allow for the examination of external factors that may influence patron outcomes, including the level library services and funding, community perceptions, and the availability of alternative modes of free access to computers and the Internet.

State-by-state data released by the National Center for Education Studies (NCES) in November 2007 provides evidence of a strong, positive link between the amount of children's materials circulated by public libraries and fourth-grade reading scores on the same agency's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Of states ranking in the top half on readings scores, more than four-fifths (82 percent) ranked in the top half on circulation of children's materials per capita. Conversely, four out of five states (83 percent) in the bottom half on reading scores also rank in the bottom half on children's circulation. Of states ranking in the top half on reading scores, seven out of 10 (70 percent) ranked in the top half on attendance at children's programs per capita. By contrast, seven out of 10 states (71 percent) in the bottom half on reading scores also rank in the bottom half on children's program attendance.