Tools for the Novice

Facts to Ponder

Public libraries pack a powerful $$ punch

Did you know that in Florida, for every $1 of public support spent on public libraries, income (wages) increases by $12.66? Or that three quarters of businesses surveyed in South Carolina said that the library contributed to the success of their businesses? These and other interested statistics relating to the economic impact of libraries are available from OCLC's website, Public libraries pack a powerful $$ punch. See also the 2003 OCLC report on Libraries: How they stack up for more statistics on the impact of libraries on local economies.

Riveting reading provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, and based on statistics from the 2002 Census. Of the adults surveyed, more than 95% preferred watching television; 60% preferred attending a movie; 55% preferred lifting weights and even 47% would rather garden than read literature.

Quotable Facts

(excerpted from an ALA brochure, "Quotable Facts About America's Libraries, Library Advocacy Now!" updated 2007) at http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ola/quotablefacts/quotable07_printer_010807.pdf.

63% of adults in the U.S. have public library cards.
Americans go to school, public and academic libraries 50% more often than they go to the movies.
Reference librarians in the nation’s public and academic libraries answer more than 7.2 million questions weekly. Standing single file, the line of questioners would stretch from New York City to Juneau, Alaska.
A 2006 poll conducted for the American Library Association found that 92% of respondents expect libraries to be needed in the future, despite the increased availability of information via the Internet.
Seattle, WA—Visits to the new public library have increased King County tourism. Increased tourism of 1% yields $1 billion in new economic activity statewide over 25 years.
South Carolina—The total direct and indirect return on investment for every $1 expended on the state’s public libraries by SC state and local governments is $4.48—almost 350%!
There are more public libraries than McDonald’s in the U.S.—a total of 16,549, including branches.
Public libraries are the number one point of online access for people without Internet connections at home, school or work.
98.9% of public libraries provide public access to the Internet.
Research shows the highest achieving students attend schools with good library media centers.

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From former MLIS student Lonnie Johnson (maybe you can guess he was a business major!) -- statistics as reported in a January 1999 issue of Inc. magazine.

It is estimated that one weekday edition of today's New York Times contains more information than the average person in 17th century England was likely to come across in an entire lifetime. Here is more information on information:

15,652	Number of Web sites discussing information overload.
454	Number of documents added to Lexis-Nexis each minute.
80%	Percentage of information that is filed but never used.
150	Hours that the average person spends looking for lost information/year
71%	Percentage of workers whose main job is tracking down information.
1	Seconds it takes the World Wide Web to expand by 17 pages.
8:1	Ratio of articles found on-line to those in newspapers.
$25,000	Amount executive earning $60,000 a year is being paid just to read.

Sources: 1.) Alta Vista 2.) Library of Congress www.loc.gov 3.) http://www.lexis-nexis.com 4 & 5) Pitney Bowes's "Workplace Communications in the 21st Century" study; 6) The Delahaye Group, Portsmouth, N.H. 7.) NEC Research Institute 8.) http://www.evelynwood.com.au. Main Source: Inc. Magazine, January 1999, p. 70. Also, at http://www.inc.com/magazine/19990101/

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