« Rhode Island Historical Society’s Research Library Reading Room Closure | Main | Citizenship Program Available for Libraries »
The Value of Libraries in Communities
By admin | January 10, 2014
According to a recent Pew Study, How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities, Americans value public libraries for many reasons, but are often unfamiliar with all the services they offer. While most Americans (91%) said they know where their local public library is and a similar percentage of those over 16 said that the closing of their local public library would have an impact on their community, a majority (47%) said they felt informed only about “some of what the library offers,” and 20% felt they did not know much about what it offers. This lack of awareness of services is a challenge for libraries: conceptually, the public feels libraries are good, but many may be hard pressed to say specifically what the value of the library is to the community.
The study also found that in the past year public library website use has increased, while in-person visits have decreased. In 2013, 48% of Americans said they visited a public library in the past year, a 5% decrease from 2012 when 53% said they had visited the library. On the other hand, 30% of Americans said they visited a public library website in the past year, a 5% increase from 2012 when 25% of Americans said they had visited a public library website. (In Rhode Island, library visits have actually increased this year by a half percent, see the RI Annual Report Survey Data.)
Check out the full report for more statistics on how Americans use and value public libraries.
Topics: News & Information | Comments Off on The Value of Libraries in Communities
Comments are closed.