Blog December Post 14 - Giving

Today's Destiny Card is giving.

 

Quite fitting for the month of December as we do seem to do a lot of giving during this month with Christmas and all!!

 

Libraries are constantly giving.  We give people access to information, we give people a space, we give people access to technology, we give people escapism, and the list goes on.

 

Unfortunately, the powers that be often see the library as a place where too much giving (in terms of dollars) happens and not much receiving.  And this can be the hardest thing for libraries to justify.

 

Value is often viewed in monetary terms, and lets face it, libraries don't bring in the dollars.

 

The library value calculator is a good tool to put the value of libraries in monetary terms, but this is really a justification to the library user.

 

There have been many state reports that show the economic value of a library.  Enriching Communities says: Economic activity measures the contribution of public libraries to the economy in real terms and was estimated at $810.2 million. Thus for each dollar expended on public libraries, $2.82 of real economic activity is generated.

 

Of course, economic value is not the only value library users/communities gain from libraries - Enriching Communities also mentions the following:

• Library users visit for an average of 35 minutes, view the library more as a cost-saver than a time-saver and are attracted mainly by the fixed collections, the availability of professional support and the friendly atmosphere.
• The top five outcomes from public library use are enhanced quality of life; enhanced enjoyment from hobbies; ability to obtain information not available elsewhere; facilitation of lifelong learning; and support for children’s education.
• The top five contributions to the community were seen as being a safe and pleasant place to visit; supporting educational facilities; facilitating lifelong learning; encouraging responsible social behaviour; and ensuring access to the Internet for all. The underlying themes are clearly those of safety, harmony, equity and education.
• Public libraries principal contribution to community culture is through their lending, reference and local history collections. There is also an appreciative audience for cultural activities such as local art displays and talks by visiting authors.

So as library professionals we have to show those that are looking for the monetary value of libraries, that it's not all about money - it's about the things I have just listed above.  Libraries give our communities all of those things.

 

And in return, well I don't know about you, but I certainly get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I think about what I have provided to my community through being a library professional and a human that more often than not, has a relationship with them!!