You probably have noticed in the last few weeks the large amount of coverage in the news media concerning public libraries. Sources from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to the Bangor Daily News and
MPBN have covered the surge in library lending and computer use during this difficult economic stretch. The recognition of library value is a good thing and like the starved institutions we are, we gratefully accept the momentary crumbs of affirmation thrown our way.
That may sound like a harsh thing to say, but the fact is public libraries are not simple triage institutions responding to stressful times. Day in and day out for years we have been returning – well under the radar - a tremendous value to our communities. But regardless of the value we bring, and the quality performance in delivering that value, neither is connected to the funding level of our institutions.
BURBANK BRANCH Portland Public Library (PPL) is a case in point but there are thousands nationally I am sure. PPL lending grew by 15% over the last two years ending June 30, 2008. It may be that public libraries are the canary in the mine anticipating the broad economic pain to come or it may be that we are doing our job well and growing because of internal changes to serve our members better. But one thing is certain: in today’s public funding approach whether it be federal, state, county or local, the funding for public libraries has nothing to do with the value returned. The response in funding from state and local sources for PPL did not reflect our success but in fact resulted in serious reductions in library service.
Too often cuts are made during difficult economic time with a pseudo equity mentality. All agencies will be cut 20% for example, regardless of their value (or ability to absorb the cut) at a given moment in the continuum of affairs. If use of libraries is growing greatly because people actually NEED the library then that should argue for a more nuanced process for reduction in funding. I admit that is hard for a legislature or a City Council to do as there are many good agencies and departments and enormous needs unmet.
In thinking about value returned, let us use a conservative number – say $20 average - for the value of the 800,000 plus items lent by PPL in the last year. The return is about $16,000,000 on a taxpayer investment of $3,400,000. That number does not include a value (cost of a computer or ISP fee) on the over 125,000 computer sessions held at the Library or the over 130,000 research questions answered by reference librarians. So in our world the 15% growth is not “profit” that can be reinvested in infrastructure and staff to get even better. In fact, other than value returned directly to users, the 15% growth means nothing in terms of acquiring stable funding to improve long term institutional performance.
Before you are tempted to say that $16,000,000 is a phony or even irrelevant measure, then explain why it is that people flock to the public library in response to economic distress – and I emphasize this- in greater numbers, if there is not real value gained from the library use? The value is real and is returned daily regardless of economic circumstances but what is clearly different today is that the net of users has widened.
So after our economic prospects brighten and take hold, don’t forget that libraries were there when you needed them and more importantly, they will be doing every day quietly, far from the media watch, the very things you individually, and we as a community, need to prosper. The value proposition remains!
