Library Impact Data Project: Looking for the Link between Library Usage and Student Attainment

Abstract

The Library Impact Data Project was a six-month project funded by Jisc and managed by the University of Huddersfield to investigate this hypothesis: “There is a statistically significant correlation across a number of universities between library activity data and student attainment.” E-resources usage, library borrowing statistics, and library gate entries were measured against final degree award for 33,074 undergraduate students across eight U.K. universities. The research successfully demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between library resource use and level of degree result; however, any conclusions drawn are not indicators that library usage and student attainment have a causal relationship.