The Effectiveness of School Libraries on Students’ Reading Engagement and Learning Achievement: A Case of Rural Schools in Hunan, China

Regarding whether school libraries have an effect on students’ learning achievement, previous findings in empirical studies are inconsistent across different developing and developed countries. This is an interesting phenomenon, which is still an important research topic that needs to be further tested and explored. In this study, a total of 16 rural primary schools in Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province were selected as the research subjects. After two years of follow-up survey investigation and data collection, the independent t-test and the difference-in-differences (DID) approach were used to analyze the differences of students’ reading engagement and the countywide standardized test scores. The result shows that there were significant differences in the aspect of reading engagement between the students at the schools with and without a school library and the reading program. The result also indicates the value of school library and reading program in cultivating students’ reading interest, reading attitude and reading strategies. The t-test reveals that there were significant differences in the aspect of standardized test scores, however, there was no consistent significant difference in DID test. The intervention in this study included the implementation of a reading program in addition to setting up a physical school library, thus, the results of this study may complement some previous empirical studies conducted in developing countries.