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The Value of Libraries

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A few blog posts ago, I wrote about how librarians make a difference in the lives of people they serve, in myriad ways. This qualitative take on the value of libraries doesn't cover the whole picture, however. While that alone would, to my mind, be enough to justify the continued presence of libraries in our communities, the quantitative data that exists that further bolsters our case. Libraries make a difference in the lives of people we serve, and we also make a difference in the economies in which we exist.

I was thinking about this more last week after having helped several people in our little library. The first was a man in his forties who was in the process of job searching. As a condition of receiving his unemployment, he visited the library every day, five days a week, to dutifully continue searching for a new job. One day he came to me for help--he needed to attach his resume to an email to send off in applying for a job and didn't know how. I showed him how to get the document attached to the email, and further helped him shape the language of the email to be polite and professional. A few days later, he came to me and thanked me again profusely. He hadn't gotten the job he applied for, but that submission caught the eye of someone in that organization. He had just been offered another job with the company. The second incident was a man and his wife trying to get car insurance online. Neither one of them had much in the way of familiarity with computers or the Internet. I found the company they were looking for online, and helped to guide them through the process of applying, resulting in the successful purchase of insurance so that their vehicle is legal under Pennsylvania law. 

Don't get me wrong, it's great when we help patrons of all ages find the book they're looking for, or help someone learn how to navigate the sometimes confusing world of ebooks and ereaders. Those things matter, and they matter quite a bit. The kinds of services we provide in a library help to improve the area around it, through providing a place where patrons can take out a wide range of books, audiobooks and media that provide both entertainment and occasionally education as well. But it is also gratifying to know that while we can help to improve the cultural lives of our patrons we can help to improve their economic lives as well, from the people forced to confront the prospect of online job-hunting and applications while having little familiarity with technology to older patrons who need help finding information about Social Security, Medicare, or the Affordable Care Act. 

The data available provides support to these anecdotes. Libraries are a great return on economic investment, which helps to demonstrate just how vital our role is in the communities we serve. According to the American Library Association, every dollar spent funding public libraries in Florida generated $6.54 in economic activity. South Carolina saw a return of $4.48 for every dollar in public library funding. A study done regarding the economic impact of the Philadelphia Free Library system found that proximity to public libraries raised the estimated value of homes by an average of $9,630, for a total boost of $698 million in value across the city. What Amazon is trying to get you to pay nearly $120 a year for, namely unlimited ebook rental, libraries already offer at no cost! Libraries provide books, music, magazines and newspapers, and access to ebooks and the Internet, to every member of our community, completely for free, helping to level the playing field for everyone. 

Yet while the data is clear that libraries provide clear economic value, across the country when budgets are tight, libraries are often the first thing to be cut. Pennsylvania's public libraries have had to manage with funding about one-third lower than it was in 2008. Our local school district has eliminated all school librarians and assistants, and it is far from atypical in this regard. Libraries across the state (and the country) have seen reduced funding, leading to fewer open hours, fewer staff to help patrons, and fewer materials and programs for the communities we serve. These are incredibly short-sighted cuts. Libraries are being under-funded at precisely the time our communities need us the most, and both the data and our experiences demonstrate this.
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