ERIC Number: ED220045
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982-May
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Relationship of Documented Library Use to Academic Achievement, Program of Study, and Progress toward a Degree. AIR Forum 1982 Paper.
Russell, Ralph E.; And Others
The relationship between student library use and selected student characteristics, including fields of study, academic achievement, and progress toward a degree was investigated at a large, urban, nonresidential university with a full-time-equivalent student population of 15,000. Findings include the following: students with higher grade point averages and higher grades for the quarter have much greater likelihood for library use; the most consistently strong indicator of measured library use was the number of hours enrolled in a student's first quarter; graduate students exhibited the greatest degree of measured use; those attending under student visas had high levels of measured use; minority students, especially females, had substantially higher book checkout activity; students in courses with higher average grade point averages for enrolled students had considerably more measured library use; those majoring in the business fields or education exhibited much less use, but these students are known to make extensive use of periodicals; and enrollment in English, history, and political science was associated with higher levels of measured use. Implications of the findings include the following: it is unclear whether better students check out more books or whether more intense book checkout activity makes better students; evidence was found that library use is dependent upon the amount of free time available to a student; the higher levels of measured library use by foreign and minority students may result from less resources to purchase books, fewer community book resources, and/or a tendency to live closer to the library. (SW)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, College Credits, College Libraries, College Students, Foreign Students, Grade Point Average, Higher Education, Institutional Research, Intellectual Disciplines, Library Circulation, Library Surveys, Majors (Students), Minority Groups, Student Characteristics, Urban Universities, Use Studies
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A