Libraries Making Noise as Top Destination
Libraries are so much fun! It’s like going to Barnes & Noble, except you don’t have to stop by the cash register on your way out.
People are using Great River Regional Library (GRRL) and other libraries in record numbers. Here at GRRL, we’re on track to see 2,890,000 visitors in 2009. That’s five times the number who attend Minnesota Vikings games or go to the Guthrie.
In 2008, 506,136 tickets were sold for Vikings games in the Metrodome, and 425,894 tickets were sold for the Guthrie Theatre. In comparison, more people used Minnesota libraries. Statewide, 1,157,274 people attended library programs, and the number for metro area libraries alone was 568,653.
In 2009, GRRL will serve 2.9 million people using an annual budget of $8.4 million approximately, or $2.89 per visitor. We expect to check out more than the 3,559,345 items we loaned in 2008, but we can use that figure for comparison. Multiply it by $25 (the estimated average value of a checked out book or other item) and you find GRRL generated a total checkout value of $88,983,625, or $30.68 per visitor.
Of course, GRRL doesn’t have 2.9 million different users. The population of the region is estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau at 451,125. Divide that number into the budget and the cost of services is $18.62 per capita. But divide it into the total checkout value and you learn the average checkout value per capita is $197.25. So, invest $18.62, take home items valued at $197.25, and still enjoy programs, Internet and information services at no additional charge. You can use the library value calculator tool to determine the value of your personal library use.
Whichever way you cut it, library services are a bargain as well as being a terrific value into the long-term literacy and mental health of a community.
