Uncovering Meaningful Correlation between Student Academic Performance and Library Material Usage

Shun Han Rebekah Wong is Assistant Librarian in the Multimedia Services Section and T.D. Webb is previous University Librarian, both at Hong Kong Baptist University Library; e-mail: rebekahw@hkbu. edu.hk, [email protected]. Sincere thanks go to Dr. Tong Chong Sze (previous Academic Registrar, HKBU) and Mr. Manson Yiu (Executive Officer, Academic Registry, HKBU). Without their cooperation, this project could not have been successfully completed and accomplished in a timely fashion. Academic libraries must demonstrate empirically that library usage does contribute positively to student academic performance and, thereby, to the university’s effectiveness. While customary academic library assessment practices may not be sufficient for this purpose, the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Library undertook an experimental project, which intended to establish a mathematical correlation between student library material usage and their cumulative grade point average (GPA). Taking 2007 to 2009 graduates as samples, with 8,701 pairs of data, the HKBU Library was able to demonstrate its impact on student learning outcomes.