Looking forward to reading this in more detail, but I am not surprised. Interesting how libraries and librarians are often among the first things to be cut due to budget.
Predictors of Reading Ability among Ten-Year Olds in 40 countries: Poverty (negative), School Libraries (positive), Instruction (zero), Early Literacy (zero)
Christy Lao, Sy-ying Lee, Jeff McQuillan, Stephen Krashen
Language Magazine (in press)