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Value of Libraries Megapost

I have been pulling together all of my posts on studies and reports on the value of public libraries for my work with the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries.  I thought I might as well post it here too. I’m sure I’ve got some dupes in here but c’est la vie!  Hope you find it useful!  There are many useful talking points and proofs in this research.

The Value of Public Libraries Selected (mostly free) Web References:

CULC Analysis of Canadian Public Library Trends

In 2011 the  Canadian Urban Libraries Council commissioned a study of library trends over the last decade.
An Analysis of Public Library Trends is useful document for Canadian public library advocates, leaders and planners.

Video: LibValue: Comprehensive Approaches to Defining Library Value

Tactic: Highlighting the Value of Library Use

Research Report conducted by Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania Fels Research & Consulting  entitled The Economic Value of the Free Library in Philadelphia (2010)  Fels_Report

Texas Public Libraries Return on Investment Study Available

https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/?p=13917

https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/sites/default/files/public/tslac/pubs/ROI_Final.pdf (223 page PDF)

The Value of Our Libraries:

Impact, Recognition and Influencing Funders by Stephen Abram, http://stephenslighthouse.com/files/ArkansasLA_Value.pdf

Upping Our Game: Unlocking Real Value in Libraries (Information Today) by Stephen Abram http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun13/Abram–Upping-Our-Game–Unlocking-Real-Value-in-Libraries.shtml

A Snapshot of Priorities & Perspectives: US Public Libraries – OCLC

http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/us-libraries/214758usb-A-Snapshot-of-Priorities-and-Perspectives.pdf

PPT: Communicating Your Library’s Value: http://www.slideshare.net/crr29061/communicating-your-librarys-value

Dividends: The Value of Public Libraries in Canada http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/dividend/contents.htm

OCLC Community Advocacy and Awareness Site http://www.oclc.org/advocacy/default.htm

Libraries: How They Stack Up 2003 (OCLC) http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf

How Libraries Stack Up: 2010 (OCLC) http://www.oclc.org/reports/stackup/default.htm

The Public Library: A National Survey http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=801

Placing a Value on Public Library Services http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/resresul.htm

Public Library Benefits Valuation Study Methodology and Key Findings http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/valuationg.htm

The Role of Public Libraries in Local Economic Development http://www.ku.edu/pri/resrep/pdf/m260.pdf

Enhancing Economic Development through Libraries http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/Rural/documents/ReadMoreAboutIt.pdf

National Arts and Economic Prosperity Impact Study: Executive Summary Arts and Economic Prosperity http://www.artsusa.org/information_services/research/services/004.asp

Library and Information Center Management, Seventh Edition http://lu.com/management/weblinks.cfm

Making Book: Gambling on the future of our libraries (Kansas City) http://www.haplr-index.com/Making%20Book%20KCConsensus%20Library%20report-execsum.pdf

South Carolina Public Library Impact Study http://www.libsci.sc.edu/SCEIS/home.htm

Taxpayer Return on Investment in Florida Public Libraries http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/roi/publications.cfm

St. Louis Public Library: Placing a Value on Public Library Services http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/rescbec.htm

Impacts of the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Sector http://www.pano.org/economic%20impact%20study.pdf

British Library: Measuring Our Value http://www.bl.uk/cgi-bin/press.cgi?story=1399 http://www.bl.uk/pdf/measuring.pdf

The Value of Public Libraries (IFLA) http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/119e-Aabo.pdf

One Dollar In, More than Three Out!: New Study Asserts the Economic Value of the San Francisco Public Library System http://www.friendsandfoundation.org/press_release.cfm?id=41

The Condition of Libraries: 1999-2010 (ALA)

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/january2010/outlook_ors.cfm

The full report is available at http://www.ala.org/ala/research/initiatives/Condition_of_Libraries_1999.20.pdf.

Individual reports by type of library are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/research/index.cfm

Economic Value of Public Libraries in the UK http://www.librijournal.org/pdf/2002-2pp78-87.pdf Snapshot of Priorities & Perspectives – US Public Libraries (OCLC)

Southern Ontario Library Service – Environmental Scan for Ontario Public Libraries LJ’s “Who Uses Libraries and Why” (US)

TD National Reading Summit: Key-note speech by Craig Alexander, Canada’s Literary Challenge Expanding the eBook Market 2011:

CULC/CBUC White Paper on eBooks in Canadian Public Libraries Public Lending Right Commission Report on eBooks 2011

Dividends “Environmental” Study – original work and CAPL’s newer version

Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2009-2010

British Library’s impact on the UK economy

British Library: Measuring Our Value The Condition of US Libraries: Trends, 1999-2009 (ALA).

The full report is available here, press release here, and individual reports by type of library are available here.

Dividends: The Value of Public Libraries in Canada

Economic Value of Public Libraries in the UK Enhancing Economic Development through Libraries

How Libraries Stack Up: 2010 (OCLC)

Libraries: How The Stack Up 2003 (OCLC)

Impacts of the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Sector Library and Information Center Management, Seventh Edition

Making Book: Gambling on the Future of our Libraries (Kansas City) Making Cities Stronger:  Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development.  (ULC).

The Annie E Casey Foundation MAKING CONNECTIONS. Making Connections is the Foundation’s long-term, multi-site effort to demonstrate that results for children and families in tough neighborhoods can be changed for the better. Public Libraries figure in this work.

National Arts and Economic Prosperity Impact Study: Executive Summary Arts and Economic Prosperity

OCLC Community Advocacy and Awareness Site

One Dollar In, More Than Three Out!: New Study Asserts the Economic Value of the San Francisco Public Library System

Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries

Placing a Value on Public Library Services

The Public Library: A National Survey

Public Library Benefits Valuation Study Methodology and Key Findings

Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study (ALA)

The Role of Public Libraries in Local Economic Development

The Seattle Public Library Central Library: Economic Benefits Assessment Social Inclusion Audit and Toolkit. (CULC/CBUC)

South Carolina Public Library Impact Study

St. Louis Public Library: Placing a Value on Public Library Services

Report from the “Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture” (October 2011)

The Condition of US Libraries: Trends, 1999–2009 (ALA)

State of US Public Libraries 2009 (ALA)

Taxpayer Return on Investment in Florida Public Libraries

Third Generation Public Libraries: The Newman Report US IMPACT Public Library Study

The Value of Public Libraries (IFLA)

I thought folks might find the sources used for the Toronto Public Library economic impact study released in the last few weeks handy:

You can find the study here (66 page PDF):

Rotman Study

http://ourpubliclibrary.to/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/RotmanStudy.pdf

So Much More: The Economic Impact of the Toronto Public Library on the City of Toronto
Halbur, T. (2011, September 20). Public Libraries are Natural Town Squares. Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network. Retrieved from:
Johnson, C. A. (2010). Do public libraries contribute to social capital?: A preliminary investigation
 into the relationship. Library & Information Science Research, 32(2), 147–155.
doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2009.12.006
Ko, Y. M. (2012). An economic valuation study of public libraries in Korea. Library & Information
Science Research, 34(2). Retrieved from:
Kretzmann, J. (2005, December). The Engaged Library: Chicago Stories of Community Building.
Urban Libraries Council . Retrieved from
Leckie, G. J., & Hopkins, J. (2002). The Public Place of Central Libraries: Findings from Toronto
and Vancouver. Library Quarterly, 72 (3), 326–72. Retrieved from:
Library Board of Queensland (2012). The Library Dividend Summary Report: A guide to the socio-
economic value of Queensland’s public libraries. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved from:
report.pdf
McClure, C. R., Fraser, B. T., Nelson, T. W., & Robbins, J. B. (2001). Economic Benefits and Impacts
from Public Libraries in the State of Florida. Final Report.Retrieved from:
Missingham, R. (2005). Libraries and economic value: a review of recent studies. Performance Measurement and Metrics,6 (3), 142–158. doi:10.1108/14678040510636711
Morris, A., Sumsion, J., & Hawkins, M. (2002). Economic Value of Public Libraries in the UK. Libri, 52 (2), 78–87. doi:10.1515/LIBR.2002.78
Newman, R. (2012). Economic Impact of Libraries in New York City. New York, NY. Retrieved from:
Newman, W. (2008). Third generation public libraries: Visionary Thinking and Service Development in Public Libraries (to 2020) and Potential Application in Ontario. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Retrieved from:
Ontario Libraries and Community Information Branch. (1995). The Economic and Job Creation Benefits of Ontario Public and First Nations Libraries. Ontario Libraries and Community Information Branch.
PEW Charitable Trusts (2012) The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future. Retrieved from:
Poll, R. (2012). Can we quantify the library’s influence? Creating an ISO standard for impact assessment. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 13 (2), 121–130. doi:10.1108/14678041211241332
Rao, G. C. (2012). The Great Equalizer: The Case For Investing In the Toronto Public Library (p. 42). Toronto: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Retrieved from:
Saskatchewan Learning Provincial Library. (2005). Public Libraries: Contributing to the Economic, Social Well-Being and Lifelong Learning of Saskatchewan People. Retrieved from:
The following articles and reports have been reviewed in preparation for the research on the

So Much More: The Economic Impact of Toronto Public Library System on the City of Toronto. Aabø, S. (2005a).
Are public libraries worth their price? New Library World, 106 (11/12), 487–495. Retrieved from:
Aabø, S. (2005b). Valuing the benefits of public libraries. Information Economics and Policy, 17 (2), 175–198. doi:10.1016/j.infoecopol.2004.05.003
Americans for the Arts. (2012). Arts & Economic Prosperity IV: Economic Impact of the Nonprofit
Arts & Culture Industry. Washington, DC: Americans for the Arts.
Americans for Libraries Council (2007). Worth their Weight: An Assessment of the Evolving Field of Library Valuation. Retrieved from:
Barron, D. (2005). The Economic impact of public libraries on South Carolina. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, School of Library and Information Science. Retrieved from:
Berk and Associates. (2005). The Seattle Public Library central library: economic benefits assessment: the transformative power of a library to redefine learning, community, and economic development. Seattle, Washington: The Firm. Retrieved from:
Bertot, J. C., McClure, C. R., & Jaeger, P. T. (2008). The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities. The Library Quarterly, 78 (3), 285–301.
doi:10.1086/588445
Bundy, A. (2003). Best investment: the modern public library as social capital. Presented at the AGM of Friends of Libraries Australia, Altona, Victoria. Retrieved from:
Canmac Economics Ltd. (2009). Halifax Central Library: An Economic Impact Assessment. Retrieved from
Eldred, H. (1998, February). Economic and Job Creation Benefits of Public Libraries. Library Administrator’s Digest,
33 (2). Retrieved from:
Elliott, D. S. (2007). Measuring Your Library’s Value: How to Do a Cost-Benefit Analysis for Your Public Library. American Library Association.
Fels Institute of Government (2011) The Economic Value of the Free Library in Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from:
Fraser, B. T., Nelson, T. W., & McClure, C. R. (2002). Describing the Economic Impacts and Benefits of Florida Public Libraries: Findings and Methodological Applications for Future Work. Library & Information Science Research, 24
(3), 211–33.
Glass, R. H., Clifford, N., Harris, B., & Institute, U. of K. P. R. (2000). The Role of Public Libraries in Local Economic Development. Policy Research Institute, University of Kansas.
Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development (2010). Taxpayer Return on Investment in Florida Public Libraries. University of West Florida. Retrieved from:
Sawyer, R. (1996). The economic and job creation benefits of Ontario public libraries. Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, The 9 (4), 14–26. doi:10.1108/08880459610131781
Schrader, A. M., & Brundin, M. R. (2012). National Statistical and Values Profile of Canadian Libraries: Report to CLA Executive Council. Canadian Library Association. Retrieved from:
Senville, W. (2009). Public Libraries: The Hub of Our Communities. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 22 (3), 97–103. State Library of Victoria. (2011).
Dollars, Sense and Public Libraries: The landmark study of the socio-economic value of Victorian public libraries. Melbourne, Australia: State Library of Victoria. Retrieved from:
Texas State Library and Archives Commission. (2012). Texas Public Libraries: Economic Benefits and
Return on Investment. Austin, Texas: Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Retrieved from:
Urban Libraries Council (2007). Making Cities Stronger: Public Library Contributions to Local Economic Development. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Retrieved from:
Warner, J., & Fitch, L. (1997). Dividends: The Value of Public Libraries in Canada. The Library Action Committee of the Book and Periodical Council. Retrieved from:
Wells, A. (2012, October 5). Climb This Mountain of Books. The Atlantic Cities. Retrieved from:

 

A few costed studies from Walt Crawford:

Give Us a Dollar and We’ll Give You Back Four (2012-13) by Walt Crawford Paperback: $19.99

$4 to $1: Public Library Benefits and Budgets by Walt Crawford eBook (PDF) $19.96 The Compleat Give Us a Dollar vol. 1: Libraries by Size by Walt Crawford eBook (PDF): $9.99

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/waltcrawford

EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY

The Future of Literacy in Canada’s Largest Cities Ontario Early Literacy Report by Charles Pascal

LIBRARY VALUE CALCULATOR(S) – Samples

Other types of libraries have interesting value studies too so here’s some of the older links:

Here are the links to the value and impact of libraries postings that I wrote this week all in one place.  Please feel free to share:

The Value of Public Libraries http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-public-libraries/

The Value of School Libraries http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-school-libraries/

The Value of Academic and College Libraries http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-academic-and-college-libraries/

Library Investment Index Summarizes Relative Size of ARL University Libraries for 2011–12

ACRL: Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report THE VALUE OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES A Comprehensive Research Review and Report Prepared by Dr. Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University for the Association of College and Research Libraries The Value of the Research Library

Working Together: Evolving Value for Academic Libraries:   http://libraryvalue.wordpress.com/report/ The final report has now been published. Download the report for free
This page contains select articles and blog posts discussing the Value of Academic Libraries report. Visit the ACRL Delicious site for additional coverage and mentions of the Value of Academic Libraries project.
Media Coverage
Michael Kelley. “A New Framework May Help Academic Libraries Demonstrate Their Value.” Library Journal Online. November 2, 2011.
Andy Havens and Tim Storey. “How Valuable Can Libraries Become?”
Next Space: The OCLC Newsletter. December 2010.
Chronicle of Higher Education. September 14, 2010. Steven Kolowich. “The Value of Libraries.”
Inside Higher Ed. September 14, 2010.
Academic Impressions. September 16, 2010. Josh Hadro. “ACRL Report Offers Guidance for Measuring Value of Academic Libraries.”
Library Journal Online. September 14, 2010. Official Press Release/ American Libraries Direct
Blog Posts Etc.
Lluís Anglada. “Coste y valor en tiempo de crisis.”
Bdig (biblioteques digitals i cooperació). February 21, 2011. {Spanish language}
Steven Bell. “After the Value Study.”
ACRLog. February 15, 2011.
Library Assessment Conference, Baltimore. December 2010.
Ángel Borrego. “¿Qué aporta la biblioteca a la universidad?” blok de bid. November 16, 2010. {Spanish language}
Stephen Abram. “The Value of Academic Libraries Redux.” Stephen’s Lighthouse. November 1, 2010.
Carl Grant. “‘The Value of Academic Libraries’ and the Incomplete Chapter.” Commentary from Carl Grant. October 21, 2010.
“October Meeting Recap.” LAUW Journal Club blog. October 19, 2010. Note: Contains discussion of Value Report.
Megan Oakleaf. “Interview on the Value of Academic Libraries Report.” Oklahoma State Regents College Connection. September 25, 2010. Note: The audio interview begins at 3:30 in the September 25, 2010 edition.
Felix Chu. “Commentary on ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries.” Felix Chu’s Blog. September 24, 2010.
Phil Davis. “State of the Art I — The Future of Academic Librarians.” The Scholarly Kitchen. September 22, 2010.
Stephen Abram. “ACRL: Value of Academic Libraries.” Stephen’s Lighthouse. September 19, 2010.
Amy Fry and Steven Bell. “On Being Valuable: Point-Counterpoint.” ACRLog. September 17, 2010.
Luther College LIS This Week in LIS. September 17, 2010.
Barbara Fister. “Assessing the (Enduring) Value of Libraries.” Inside Higher Ed BlogU. September 17, 2010.
Barbara Fister. “Valuing Libraries – Peer to Peer Review.” Library Journal blog. September 16, 2010. “Syracuse iSchool Prof. Megan Oakleaf’s writes ACRL Value of Academic Libraries report.” Syracuse iSchool News. September 14 2010.

The Value of Special Libraries http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/value-of-special-libraries/

Library Advocacy: Save the Library Campaigns http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/01/save-the-library-campaigns/

Having the Value Conversation: Springboard Stories http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/07/having-the-value-conversation-springboard-stories/

I hope this helps people out.  Let me know of other studies or strategies that you see that work!

Stephen

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Posted on: August 29, 2013, 10:30 am Category: Uncategorized

By: Stephen Abram

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