A total of 1,110 Indiana public schools provided school library book purchase and circulation information for the 1997-98 school year. This information can now be compared to results for the 1996-97 school year published in the January 1998 issue of NetWords.

     The Indiana General Assembly provided $4 million for books to increase voluntary reading for students enrolled in grades K-8. Because of these funds, the average number of books purchased per student increased 40.7 percent, from 0.81 to 1.14. Multiplying 1.14 times the 684,894 students enrolled in grades K-8 throughout the state, there were 780,779 books purchased during the past school year. This is an increase of 226,015 books.

     The additional one-third of a book per student funded by the state accounted for about 2 percent of the books in an average Indiana school. Books arrived throughout the year, so students did not have a full year to use the books. Amazingly, this 2 percent of new books increased circulation by nearly 10 percent, with a total circulation difference of 2,328,639.

     There is no substitute for books. Without access to books, reading achievement suffers. Plainly, then, school libraries need two new books per student each year to keep collections current. The high circulation of the additional books provided by the General Assembly proves that Indiana students will increase voluntary reading provided that they have access to new, interesting, and useful books.
 

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