2008 WAPL Conference - Keynote
David J. Ward - President Northstar Economics
The Economic Impact of Wisconsin Public Libraries
Find details of the study at: http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/econimpact.html
The Economic Context:
Decrease in agriculture and manufacturing
People left farm for factory in mid-century
1950s heyday of WI economy
Now 3% of workforce on farms
Expansion of private services
Tremendous expansion of Other (IT, healthcare, retail)
Manual labor is now less important
Analytic skills increasing in importance
We are simply a part of the global economy
Pace of change is accelerating
Education = Larger income in today's economy - gap between different educational levels is becoming more significant
Compared MN with WI educational attainment ranks - because they have much better educational ranks, MN tends to make $4000 more per person each year. Think about what this means for tax revenue in a state!
Study Overview
October 2007 - April 2008
2 Elements to Study: Economic impact of spending & finding Total Spending Impact
$326 million dollars - spending that largely affects mainstream businesses
3,222 jobs in libraries - small number for the value that is there
6,280 jobs connected to libraries (FTE equiv.)
2nd Element: Market Value of Services
$427,914,334 - Total Economic Value
Spending + Service Impact = Three Quarters of a Billion $
Additional services were not able to be included: meeting rooms, job info, magazines, electronic databases, wi-fi access, etc.
Annual return on investment per dollar of public tax support: $4.06
Great numbers, especially tangible to library boards and city councils!
SWOT Analysis
Strengths: no cost, equal access, encouraging reading, Internet, community gathering place, etc.
Weaknesses: funding, lack of physical space, Internet
Observations
Value of libs in rural and low income areas
Library use up among baby boomers and other demographics
Central community gathering place very important to people
Despite concerns, libraries are increasingly relevant in Internet age
Need for more specialized knowl.
Electronic access is critical
Important to inform the public about the library's mission
Operating money and space remain top concerns
Even in Internet age, important to maintain physical facilities and knowledgeable staff
How wonderful to hear that we are doing the right thing as modern public libraries. This is exactly what I have been telling my staff. We are still vital, but we have to embrace the new as well as the old. That means remaining important to the people who need us most, but also offering high end services to those who need them. When we do this well, it is an elegant dance of balance. But it is oh so easy to head one direction and neglect the other. Keep on dancing folks!