The following snippets of information are excerpted from : Best Bang for the buck: the economic benefits of sunshine coast libraries Queensland by Ross Duncan and published in Aplis December 08.
This article discusses the quantifiable economic value of a public library to its population. There are many benefits of public libraries which clearly have an economic value but which is not easily quantified, – such as social engagement, improvement in literacy rates, increased job skills related to use of information, promotionof tolerance among diverse groups, informed citizens, etc.
The main focus of this reseach however is the direct economic benefit or Return on Investment ( ROI) for the local body / council which funds the library.
Using a standard methodolgy, the libraries of the Sunshine Coast ( Noosa, Maroochy and Caloundra) were calculated to have a direct financial benefit to the community of $3.66 for every dollar invested. This number increases to $5.45 per dollar when using an economic multiplier which reflects that the actual money is ” free for other uses by the community”.
Studies on ROI of public libraries have been done in the past in the US and have shown results from $3 – $8 for every dollar invested. There is every reason to expect that the Queensland results would be similar ours and at a basic level we could replicate the study for our libraries. If someone has the inclination to do the maths – it would great to see what our ROI is using the same Consumer surplus method.
“Improvements in procurement models, increasing uptake of selfservice terminals and implementation of other time saving information technology solutions will enable libraries to extend the return on council’s investment”
” The public library will play an increasely important role in a society where informationin the widest sense is at the core of all social and economic activity.” {Southern Ontario Library Service ( 1998)}
Please let me know if you’d like to see the full article and especially if you would like to undertake the project of working out our ROI as this would be a really useful thing to know.
Lisa
