Public Libraries and Literacy: Young People's Reading Habits and Attitudes to Public Libraries, and an Exploration of the Relationship between Public Library Use and School Attainment

This paper presents additional information from the 2009 survey of young people's reading and writing. The authors conducted an online survey of 17,089 pupils aged 8 to 16 from 112 schools, conducted in November-December 2009, which consisted of 32 questions exploring young people's background, reading and writing behaviour, perceived ability and attitudes. The survey included questions exploring school library use, which are examined in the separate National Literacy Trust research report "Linking School Libraries and Literacy (Clark, 2010)". In addition, the survey contained a few questions that explored public library use, which is the focus of the present paper. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures and 11 endnotes.)