Libraries produce economic gains.

When facing budget shortfalls, public libraries are often among the first to be put on the chopping block and receive cuts in funding. This is a mistake. The economic gains of public libraries as a whole often far surpass the spending needed to maintain them.

Did you know...

• In 2011, spending by Texas public libraries totaled $544.9 million, but economic benefits topped $2.407 billion? That's $4.42 return on investment (ROI). [1]
• The University of Illinois determined that it's library expenditures in 2006 resulted $4.38 ROI, which was based on the entire library budget. If only collections expenditures were considered the ROI would've been around $12. [2] 
• A 2009 report from Colorado (using data from 2006) looked at eight library systems, chosen at random, from metro and non-metro, urban, suburban and rural communities. All libraries showed positive ROI, the lowest being $428 and the highest being $31.07 (an outlier). The median ROI was $4.99. [3]
• A 2004 report out of Florida calculated Florida public libraries' ROI at $6.54. [4] A 2010 report estimated the ROI at 8.32! [5]

These are just a sample of the plentiful data you can find floating around cyberspace. Check out the Illinois Library Association as a resource to start your own search.

I like libraries for what they are, but the economic gains are nothing to sneeze at.

Resources

1. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/pubs/Chapter7.pdf
2. http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/URN%3ANBN%3ANL%3AUI%3A10-1-113545/8213
3. http://www.lrs.org/documents/closer_look/roi.pdf
4. http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/roi/pdfs/ROISummaryReport.pdf
5. http://haas.uwf.edu/library/state.htm