Florida’s public libraries are a key component in supporting the educational and learning needs of every person in the state. These libraries offer vital resources for early literacy development, homework help, home school families, continuing education and lifelong avocations. Florida public libraries are on the front lines of connecting people with essential government resources – including unemployment benefits, federal and state emergency assistance, tax filing and more. Public libraries are also logical partners for local economic development initiatives that focus on people and quality of life.  Florida public libraries are widely available, highly regarded public institutions that provide a broad range of information services and support for diverse constituencies.

This report describes a comprehensive study to assess taxpayer return on investment in Florida’s public libraries. The present study was commissioned to provide an update to the original study performed in 2004. In order to perform a comparable analysis, a statewide telephone survey of adult library users, with some minor changes to the original survey, was re-administered.  Additionally, in lieu of the in-house printed survey originally performed, an online Internet-based survey was conducted, with links to the survey instrument provided to the public libraries and the State Library and Archives. Organizations were also surveyed using an online instrument, with a link to the survey sent via e-mail.  The organizations contacted included public and private K-12 schools, universities and colleges, businesses and special libraries.  A follow-up survey to the libraries themselves was also re-administered to collect information on use by tourists and school-age children and additional information on business-like operations run by the libraries.

In the prior 2004 study, an econometric input-output model (REMI) covering 169 sectors for the State of Florida was applied to Florida’s public libraries by the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at Florida State University. This second analysis extended the economic contribution of libraries beyond the actual users of the libraries to yield a set of direct, indirect, and induced effects to the State of Florida and its communities.  The present study uses an updated version of the REMI model that includes the ability to analyze the economic contribution of libraries not only at the state level, but at the county level as well.

Key Findings
Overall, Florida’s public libraries return $8.32 for every $1.00 invested from all sources.

The total revenue investment in Florida’s public libraries was $661.5 million in 2008.  Based upon an analysis of what would happen if public libraries ceased to exist, the total economic return attributable to the existence of public libraries is $6.23 billion.  This figure includes the net benefits (added costs to use alternatives), the benefits that would be lost because some users would not bother to use alternatives and revenues that would be lost by vendors and contractors.

Using State Library and Archives of Florida data and survey results, the REMI (Regional Economic Models, Inc.) model looked at the initial public investment in public libraries and redistributed the money to alternative spending activities.  Projecting forward from 2008-2040, the REMI model indicated that if funding for public libraries was reallocated across Florida government sectors, the result to the state economy would be a net decline of $15.2 billion in wages and 189,500 jobs.

For every $3,491 spent on public libraries from public funding sources in Florida, one job (in the economy, not just in libraries) is created.

For every dollar of public support spent on public libraries in Florida, Gross Regional Product (the value of all goods and services produced in the state) increases by $10.57.

For every dollar of public support spent on public libraries in Florida, income (wages) increases by $22.97.

Benefit to Cost ratios
A benefit to cost ratio is a way to mathematically illustrate the relationship between the costs of a service, such as the provision of a public library in a community, to the monetary benefits the service provides to its users. For example, if it cost the community $10 for one copy of a book, and 25 people check it out rather than having to buy it themselves, the benefit to cost ratio would be 25 to 1 ($250 dollars saved divided by the $10 cost).

The B/C (Availability) of Florida’s public libraries is 10.8 to 1 where the benefit to the state in terms of availability of Florida’s public libraries is the total cost to use alternatives of $4.3 billion divided by the cost of $668 millions (includes cost of multi-type cooperative support to public libraries).

The B/C (REMI Wages) is 7.5 to 1, where the benefit to the state in terms of wages is $21.8 billion and the cost is $2.9 billion.

The B/C (REMI GRP) is 5.1 to 1, where the benefit to the state in terms of GRP output is $14.9 billion and the cost is $2.9 billion.