Through a combination of local, state, and federal funding, as well as private donations, the United States spends billions of dollars on public libraries each year. In return, libraries provide free access to information through a variety of events, including loaning materials, research services, children’s reading sessions, computer classes, and tax preparation. But do these investments really have a tangible impact on communities, especially on children’s academic achievement? American Economic Journal: Economic Policy In their book, Gregory Gilpin, Ezra Karger, and Peter Nenka, they say that it is.
Their findings come from an analysis of infrastructure spending data related to new library construction and major renovation projects from 2009 to 2018. The researchers used event studies to compare school districts to identify periods of significant capital expenditures and track subsequent differences between communities that invested in their local libraries and those that did not. They found that capital investments in public libraries increase children’s engagement with their local libraries, which in turn improves test performance measures for local school districts.
To learn more, read AEA’s full post.
Direct access to the research paper featured in this post (full text fee required): Returns on Public Library Investment (via American Economic Journal)
Abstract
Local governments spend more than $12 billion annually on operating the United States’ 15,427 public libraries, yet little is known about their effectiveness. Using data describing nearly the entire range of public libraries, we show that capital investments in public libraries increase library visitation, children’s attendance at library events, and children’s checkouts by an average of 5 to 15 percent in the years following the investment. Increased library use improves test performance in nearby school districts: capital investments of $200 or more per student in a local public library are associated with 0.01 to 0.04 standard deviation increases in reading test scores in subsequent years.
Category: Data files, Funding, Library, News, Public Library
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, author, consultant, and conference speaker based in the Washington DC metropolitan area. He received his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. He has received numerous awards, including the SLA Technology Innovation Award and the Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program Alumni of the Year Award. From 2006 to 2009, he served as Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
