Survey Results

Since developing our Productive Partnership Program, Mackay West State School student membership of Mackay Regional Council Libraries has grown to approximately 87% and continually increases with applications coming in regularly. Library Staff conducted a survey with 100 students who gained membership through Mackay West State School. The results are as follows:

	87% of new members visited one or more branches of the Mackay Regional Council Libraries.
	93% of new members indicated they intended to visit a branch in the near future.
	76% of visits were to the City Library, 17% to the Gordon White Library in North Mackay, 5% to the Walkerston Library and 2% to the Mobile library.
	The most frequently borrowed resource was in the Fiction/Non-Fiction area which has clear ramifications for improved literacy levels.

A Norwegian study indicated that, if cooperation between public and school libraries is well organised, with students having easy access to reading material, then those students have much better reading levels than the average.

The professional literature in the area of school and public library cooperation, clearly indicates that such cooperation always delivers improved student learning outcomes, especially in the area of Literacy.