Libraries Speak Volumes of Value
Put your tax (money) where your mouth is.
Where I live in Ohio, we’ll be voting on a levy to increase funding to public libraries — I’ll be voting in favor of it. I hope if there’s an opportunity to cast a vote for spending a few more dollars in support YOUR local library, that you’ll make the right (FOR!) choice when you’re in the voting booth.

Here are a few statistics* you may not know about libraries…
Research shows the highest achieving students attend schools with good library media centers.

Americans spend seven times as much money on home video games ($7 billion) as they do on school library materials for their children($1 billion).

School library media centers spend an average of $7 per child for books – less than half the average cost of one hardcover school library book.

Students visit school library media centers almost 1.5 billion times during the school year – about one-and-a-half times the visits to state and national parks.

95% of public libraries provide public access to the Internet.

Academic librarians answer 97 million reference questions each year – almost three times the attendance at college football games.

College libraries receive less than three cents of every dollar spent on higher education.

If the cost of gas had risen as fast as the cost of academic library periodicals since 1990, it would cost $3.00 a gallon to put fuel in your car. (This stat is from 2002!)

There are more public libraries than McDonald’s – a total of 16,220, including branches.

Americans spend more than three times as much on salty snacks as they do on public libraries.

Americans check out an average of more than six books a year. They spend $25.25 a year for the public library – much less than the average cost of a single hardcover book.

Public libraries are the number one point of online access for people without Internet connections at home, school or work.

Americans go to school, public and academic libraries more than twice as often as they go to the movies.

Reference librarians in the nation’s public and academic libraries answer more than seven million questions weekly. Standing single file, the line of questioners would stretch from Boston to San Francisco.

Federal spending on libraries annually is only 54 cents per person.

A 2002 poll conducted for the American Library Association found that 91% of respondents expect libraries to be needed in the future, despite the increased availability of information via the Internet.

Don’t be “shelf”ish.
Spend a few bucks to keep libraries alive…
VOTE YES for LIBRARY FUNDING!

*All stats taken from “Quotable Facts About America’s Libraries: 2002“, published by the American Library Association with statistics provided by: ALA Office for Research & Statistics, ALA Washington Office, Library Research Service, and Colorado State Library.