Academic library non/low use and undergraduate student achievement: a preliminary report of research in progress. AbstractPurpose: Reports an ongoing investigation of library use at Huddersfield University that has identified a historical correlation between Library usage and degree classification.Approach: Three sets of data -use of electronic resources, book loans, and visits to the library -when represented graphically show consistent amounts of no and low use at campus, academic school, degree-type and course level. Combining these findings with data showing academic achievement raises the question: is there a positive correlation between library use and attainment?Findings: Understandably Library usage varies between academic schools and there are often pedagogic reasons for low usage, but it would appear that, in some subjects, students who 'read' more, measured in terms of borrowing books and accessing electronic resources, achieve better grades.Limitations: Further work will focus on undergraduate, fulltime students at the main University campus. Implications:The research intends to discover the reasons behind non/low use so as to develop then trial effective interventions for improving the grades of all students, from the bottom up, rather than just supporting those that are already high flyers. The results will inform both Library service delivery and University goals concerning the quality of the student learning experience, improving retention and improving the level of final degree award.Originality: There are implications for all subjects and all levels of achievement at the University.

The current economic climate is placing pressure on UK Universities to maximise use of their resources and ensure value for money. In parallel, there is a continuing focus on the student experience and a desire that all students should achieve their full potential whilst studying at University.Internal investigation at the University of Huddersfield suggests a strong correlation between library usage and degree results, and also significant under-usage of expensive library resources at both school and course level. Data from over 700 courses using three indicators of library usage; access to e-resources; book loans and access to the library were matched against the student record system and anonymised.Initial findings highlighted that the correlation between library usage and grade had not yet been significance tested. In January 2011, the University of Huddersfield, together with partners at the Universities of Bradford; De Montfort; Exeter; Lincoln; Liverpool John Moores; Salford and Teesside were awarded JISC funding to prove the hypothesis that there is a statistically significant correlation across a number of universities between library activity data and student attainment.

The two year INHALE Project, begun in November 2000 at the University of Huddersfield, is one of forty‐four projects supported nationally by the JISC as part of the DNER (Distributed National Electronic Resource) learning and teaching development programme. This article describes the creation, design, utilization and evaluation of the project’s innovative interactive information retrieval skill materials.

Purpose To examine the INHALE Project, completed at the end of February 2003, which evaluated the information‐seeking skills of over 1,600 students and also developed a dynamic database (now known as the INFORMS database) of information skills teaching and learning objects for use across the broad spectrum of subjects taught in higher education (HE)/further education (FE). Design/methodology/approach This is a follow‐on article to one already published (VINE, Vol. 126 No.1, 2002, pp. 24‐34) and provides an overview of the results of key evaluations undertaken during the project; the factors identified as having an impact on the delivery of effective information skills teaching and learning across an institution; plus the developments of the INHALE (now INFORMS) database of information skills resources. Findings Reveals that the evaluation of student information seeking behaviour clearly points to the continuing need for information skills teaching within the HE community and for librarians to embrace this need within the evolving information environment. Originality/value This article holds useful information for understanding the information‐seeking skills of students and how these can be facilitated.

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