School library and reading habits on Primary School students

Abstract

The research sprang from interest in evaluating school library as a way to give access to reading, and to educate children into reading habits. The purpose of this research is to examine the guidelines governing the reading actions programmed in Bizkaia’s, Basque Country’s school libraries and to determine its impact. Therefore, first we describe the reading habits and the perceptions and opinions Primary school students have about reading. Secondly, our research examines the school libraries, to provide timely feedback about their impact as reader agent and to illustrate how school libraries and librarians get involved in the school communities and how to support them. Two survey questionnaires were conducted, one for Primary school students, and the other for librarians. After comparing the results found amongst the two surveys, we have established the connection between them to evaluate if the existence of a school library favours reading habits. As a conclusion, on the one hand, the student’s attitude and the family stimulus are basic elements to favour reading habits and, on the other, the mere presence of a school library at school is not enough to improve reading habits and the key is the quality of the school library working with the students.