The Value of California’s Public Libraries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how Californian libraries deliver value, by taking a preliminary value framework previously developed from a study of academic literature, and applying it to the public library landscape in California. A "bricolage" approach was used to develop an evidencebased framework of value and subsequently to gather data about Californians' use of and attitudes about public libraries. The framework was developed through an extended literature review and applied across data gathered through a survey of residents, interviews with library stakeholders, a review of statistics on library usage, and a review of the outcomes of grantfunded programs in California public libraries. The most significant outcome of our project is a unique value proposition for California's public libraries. These libraries deliver value for individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole. They provide opportunities and support for learning and knowledge development, health and wellbeing, community development, and economic development. Value is delivered through a unique combination of resources, people, and space. California's public libraries are largely offering services that are valued by the public; however, public awareness of the range and nature of services offered remains lower than desired. Practitioners can use the evidence-based framework and the unique value proposition to better understand the aspects of their library services that offer most value to their communities, and to make more persuasive cases for library support. This paper is the first to use an evidence-based framework of value in assessing the impact of California's public libraries.

A case study of the impact of regional knowledge services and management on regional economic development

“…The above results agree well that the public library can give a contribution to the gross regional product (Tbaishat, 2020). This is because knowledge sharing and knowledge quality are positively correlated with innovation ability (Ganguly, Talukdar, & Chatterjee, 2019) and knowledge plays an important role in regional economic performance (Cole & Stenström, 2020;Urbano, D., & Aparicio, S.,2016;Liang,2019). In a word, public libraries in the five provinces in China and one of China's direct-controlled municipalities can give support regional economic development.…”

“…Public libraries' functions are to acquire, process, organize, and disseminate information (Kolawole, Ogbuiyi, Oriogu, & Ogbuiyi, 2015). Public libraries provide opportunities and support for learning and knowledge development, health and well-being, community development, and economic development (Cole & Stenström, 2020). Public libraries are important places for knowledge dissemination, which made knowledge more accessible.…”

Capturing computational thinking in public libraries: An examination of assessment strategies, audience, and mindset

“…Scholars have examined other challenges associated with assessment in informal learning environments in general, such as participants’ tendency to drop out of programs (Noam and Shah, 2013), a mismatch between program goals and outcomes (Allen et al, 2020; Lemke et al, 2012), and the need to define goals and outcomes from the onset (Gross et al, 2016; Powell 2006 in Cole and Stenström, 2021). Tang et al (2020) discuss the lack of reliability and validity in existing assessment tools, and a measurement gap of non-cognitive aspects of CT (other than knowledge or skills).…”

Information literacy and research support services in academic libraries: A bibliometric analysis from 2001 to 2020

“…Furthermore, diversified research work was conducted on these research support services in developing and developed countries [7,18–21]. These scholars and researchers used different research design and data analysis techniques to conclude their studies, including qualitative, quantitative, content analysis, observational research and bibliometric analysis [2,22–24]. It is important to mention here that the term ‘bibliometrics’ was coined in 1969 and used in several studies to compile published documents across the globe [25–27].…”