Investigating the Relationship of Library Usage to Student Outcomes

Abstract

This study connects library user surveys, a common library assessment technique, to institutional data to demonstrate the value an academic library brings to student learning and student outcomes. Using regression techniques, the study identifies multiple significant correlations, both positive and negative, between student use of the library and student learning and outcomes as measured by retention, graduation, and grade point average (GPA). The library factors associated with student outcomes change over the course of the four-year undergraduate experience. Methods used in this study could be a model for other institutions seeking a means for assessing the library's relationship to student learning and outcomes.hile libraries were once "the heart of the university," their value is no longer taken for granted. Librarians are increasingly facing the task of demonstrating the value they provide to the university communities they serve. Universities are expected to provide information on assessment and evaluation of their educational efforts. In this environment, it is not surprising that the academic library, as a creature of higher education, finds itself working to identify measures to more clearly demonstrate the library's value by its influence on institutionally relevant outcomes-faculty productivity or student outcomes.This study gathered data from user surveys on three different areas of library influence-resources, services, and place (or space)-and how these areas relate to student success across the undergraduate years. This research has developed a model of library usage that considers multiple variables at various points in time during the undergraduate experience. Specifically, how does the student's reported usage of the library's services and resources relate to their success after controlling for exogenous characteristics?The Spellings Commission Report of 2006 influenced American higher education to more closely examine accountability and assessment.

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