A librarian's lens on reading decline: Insights into school library engagement in the UAE

This research investigates the perceptions held by librarians in the United Arab Emirates regarding the limited engagement of students in reading within school libraries, as well as identifying the most effective strategies to mitigate this challenge. An online survey was conducted involving 137 school librarians from a variety of educational institutions and curricular frameworks to analyze perceptions regarding library environments and resources, factors associated with students, institutional impediments, and potential interventions. It also included a singular open-ended question that was analyzed using thematic analysis. Quantitative findings reveal that librarians report prevalent concerns regarding what they perceive as outdated and inadequately diverse collections, uninviting physical spaces, digital distractions among students, apparent motivational deficits, and inconsistent administrative support. Findings from open-ended responses highlight constraints arising from policy mandates and content censorship linked to regulatory compliance, a marked decline in student reading engagement from primary to secondary levels, the limited availability of Arabic-language literature, and the critical importance of cultivating a whole school reading culture through role modeling and recognition of student readers. Librarians strongly advocate for multitiered, community-focused interventions, incorporating student input into collection development, integrating reading into the curriculum, fostering partnerships with parents and the community, creating enriched learning environments, and providing targeted professional development as vital measures to rejuvenate reading engagement within multilingual, digitally saturated educational systems.