Value of Libraries

As a new Library Assistant one of my first questions was, “Do I get a library card?” It may seem like a strange question, but perhaps not when you consider that I don’t live in the service “home library” community where I work. My hometown library does participate in a statewide program that allows me to check out books where I work, but not any audiovisual materials such as DVDs or audiobooks. So, I was very happy that the answer to my question was “yes” because it is a staff privilege to receive a library card. Every day that I work, I come across something interesting that I want to check out and take home to look at, and I am also a returning college student, so the resources I have available to me are priceless. I typically check out physical items and request ILL’s (inter-library loans) through my staff library. I also use my local home library for ebooks and e-audiobooks, as well as attending a few programs a year.

I have always been a library lover and a library user, and recently I started thinking about the value of libraries and how many people do not take advantage of them. Tax dollars likely help fund your local library, so if you pay taxes, you are essentially paying for your library. Budget cuts and diminishing funding is the norm for many libraries, and it is easy for patrons to under appreciate them without considering the stark monetary values.

Using a Value Calculator provided by MeL, Michigan’s eLibrary, I crunched a few numbers. I typically check out more materials than I have listed here, but I wanted to consider modest numbers.

7 books per month = $105.00
2 books per month via MeLCat = $24.00
2 movies per month = $10.00
2 audiobooks = $36.00
1 adult program attended = $15.00

The total for all of these items, for ONE MONTH is $190.00. Multiply that by 12 and the YEARLY total is $2,280.00.

Impressive!

But it gets even better when you consider that  my return on investment is $57.56 for every $1.00 of tax money I invest in my library. Even more impressive!

If I look at it another way, I would be throwing away $57.56 for every $1 of library tax dollars that I pay if I didn’t use my library.

Check it out yourself to see the value of your library. Click the image below: