Through a mix of local, state, and national funding, plus private donations, the United States spends billions of dollars each year on public libraries. In return, libraries provide free access to information through materials lending, research services, and a range of events like children’s story time, computer classes, and tax preparation. But do these investments really have a tangible impact on the communities, particularly on child academic performance? According to a paper published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy by Gregory Gilpin, Ezra Karger, and Peter Nencka, they do.
Their findings come from an analysis of infrastructure spending data related to the construction of new library buildings and major renovation projects between 2009 and 2018. The researchers used an event study to compare school districts, isolating the timing of sizable capital expenditures and tracking the subsequent differences between communities that invested in local libraries and those that didn’t. They found that public library capital investments increase children’s engagement with their local library, which in turn improves test score measures in local school districts.
Local governments spend over $12 billion annually funding the operation of 15,427 public libraries in the United States, yet we know little about their effects. We use data describing the near universe of public libraries to show that public library capital investment increases library visits, children’s attendance at library events, and children’s circulation by an average of 5–15 percent in the years following investment. Increases in library use translate into improved test scores in nearby school districts: a $200 or greater per student capital investment in local public libraries increases reading test scores by 0.01–0.04 standard deviations in subsequent years.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
