Public Library Quarterly

ISSN: 0161-6846 (Print) 1541-1540 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wplq20

What Is the Value of a Public Library? Possibilities,

Challenges, Opportunities

Editor-in-chief Joseph R. Matthews

To cite this article: Editor-in-chief Joseph R. Matthews (2019) What Is the Value of a Public
Library? Possibilities, Challenges, Opportunities, Public Library Quarterly, 38:2, 121-123, DOI:
10.1080/01616846.2019.1602750

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2019.1602750

Published online: 15 Apr 2019.

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PUBLIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY
2019, VOL. 38, NO. 2, 121–123
https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2019.1602750

EDITORIAL

What Is the Value of a Public Library? Possibilities,

Challenges, Opportunities

One of the continuing and perplexing challenges of our profession is in our clumsy
attempts to “define” the value of the public library. The valuation challenge is con-
founded by the reality of the many diverse definitions of “value” itself. Assuming we are
able to surmount the definitional challenge, we are then confronted with the reality that
public library services are considered a “public good.” As such, a public good possesses
a “nonrival consumption” aspect – that is, the availability and potential use of the good
are not reduced by another person’s use of the good.
Value is a multidimensional concept, as shown in Figure 1, and as public libraries
continue to wrestle with the value question, it is important to embrace the holistic nature
of value. Value can be considered through the lens of five perspectives: social, civic, cultural,
environmental, and financial. And each of these five perspectives also has many dimen-
sions. Consider, for example, the social perspective. The social value might encompass one
or more of these outcomes: informed citizens, sense of place, promotion of civic values,
social networks, employability, empowerment, improved self-esteem, social cohesion, com-
munity engagement, and social, human, and intellectual capital.
Some challenges faced by a library attempting to identify its value are that the use of
standardized models is difficult because:
● The communities that a library serves are unique with differing needs, and thus,
a different set of programs and services is offered to better meet those needs
● Librarians are often better equipped to identify and develop tools and methods for
communicating the value of their library to their community that will resonate in
a more effective way. In effect, librarians are adopting a Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
approach for identifying and communicating the value
● Different forms of value should require a variety of metrics for understanding the
value that is delivered
● There is little research on how library services lead to value generation in the lives
of library users and ultimately in the community itself.
● Given the DIY approach so many libraries have been adopting, this makes compar-
ing the value delivered in one community to the value delivered in another.
The library evaluation model developed by Orr (1973), as shown in Figure 2, clearly
articulated and delineated the various types of measures – input, process, output, outcomes,
and impact. Historically, libraries have focused on the first three types of measures (input,
process, and output), while more recently there have been efforts to begin to develop tools
that will expose the outcomes and impacts of the public library – for example, the American
Public Library Association’s Project Outcome (see Lopez 2018).
Libraries have taken a variety of means to begin to identify and measure outcomes
and impacts including:
● Soft measures such as surveys, focus groups, interviews, and ethnographic
approaches; user self-assessment (sometimes reported in a survey)
● Hard measures such as comparing user data to specific learning outcomes or
educational success, direct observation of behaviors, achieving a personal goal
Published with license by Taylor & Francis. © Joseph R. Matthews
122 EDITORIAL

Social

Financial Civic
Value
Perspectives

Environmental Cultural

Figure 1. Holistic value perspectives.

Resources Capability Utilization Impact or Effect

Input Process Output Outcomes for the individual,

Measures measures measures community, or organization

Figure 2. Orr’s evaluation model.

● Monetizing the value of library services using

○ A social Return on Investment approach, e.g., a Generic Social Outcomes
○ A Return on Investment analysis as suggested by Elliott et al. (2009)
○ Use of a Contingent Valuation – Willingness to Pay or a Willingness to Accept,
consumer surplus method, or a library valuation calculator
○ A Cost–Benefit Analysis (Cost avoidance due to use of the library collection and
services rather than purchasing materials and services).
Another interesting approach is to partner with other organizations in the community,
including departments from local government, and embrace the concept of community
indicators as suggested by Huber and Potter (2015). The library and other partners in the
community identify pressing concerns within the community, and every partner works
on improving that topic be it unemployment, kindergarten readiness, and so forth.
Community indicators are used to track the cumulative impact of every organization
focused on a specific concern over time. Clearly, the public library cannot claim that it is
solely responsible for reducing the unemployment rate, but it can claim some credit
along with the other partners.
Often times, a word in our profession has become largely ignored or forgotten – that
word is “public.” Public libraries are about more than providing access to information or
collections of materials. Public libraries can be places where people come together to
exchange information and ideas. The library as “place” along with the programs and
 PUBLIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY 123

services that libraries offer means that the library has the opportunity to be a showroom
for culture and learning. It can be, and should be, a place that celebrates creativity,
encourages discovery and exploration, helps people to work productively, and provides
community engagement and empowerment. Given the complexity and diversity of ways
the public library can impact individuals and the community it serves, we need to ensure
that the value message is rich and robust so that it reflects all that the public library
accomplishes.
And finally, if you are interested in starting the process to identify and determine the
value of your library, you might be interested in a recent report from England with the
interesting title of Unlimited Value (Libraries Unlimited 2019). We all need to be
exploring new ways in which to communicate the value of the public library to key
stakeholders and to the community itself.

References
Elliott, D., G. Holt, S. W. Hayden, and L. E. Holt. 2009. Measuring your library’s value: How to do a cost-
benefit analysis for your public library. Chicago: American Library Association.
Huber, J. J., and S. V. Potter. 2015. The purpose-based library: Finding your path to survival, success, and
growth. Chicago: American Library Association.
Libraries Unlimited. 2019. Unlimited value: Leading practice in unlimited value creation. Exeter, England:
Libraries Unlimited. https://librariesunlimited.org.uk/news/new-research-into-the-value-of-public-
libraries-released/.
Lopez, S. 2018. Project outcome results in action. Public Library Quarterly 37 (2):150–65. doi:10.1080/
01616846.2018.1448208.
Orr, R. 1973. Measuring the goodness of library services. Journal of Documentation 29 (3):315–52.
doi:10.1108/eb026561.

Joseph R. Matthews
Editor-in-chief
joe@joematthews.org http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4957-9853
Received March 2019; accepted March 2019