Report on the Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement

2. Purpose

The main purpose of this review is to report on the nature and extent of the evidence that has linked school libraries to student achievement since 1990, to identify the strengths and gaps in existing data as it might relate to an Australian setting, and to suggest some strategies for developing further research in Australia. Although research findings in other countries suggest that school libraries can have a positive impact on student achievement, the extent to which this body of evidence is transferable to an Australian setting is not obvious. The review has been conducted with the intention of providing a clear and accessible synthesis of existing research to inform subsequent strategic action and research directions in an Australian context.