Use of Georgia's public libraries continues to rise in Internet Age
GPLS News, February 2008
The Hall County Library registered its youngest patron Dec. 21 at the Gainesville branch. Walker David Neff received his library card at only 8 days old. "We're going to make reading a very important part of his life," said mom Tiffany Neff. "We want him to always know the importance of reading and education." From left are Vonda Henderson, youth services library assistant; Dawn Dale, circulation manager; Neff with Walker; and grandmother Debbie Walker.
Georgia's preliminary statistical figures for fiscal year 2007 support the findings of a national survey released in January that challenges the belief that the Internet reduces library use.
Although the Internet is increasingly important as a source of information for a majority of Americans, most adults still use libraries, according to "Information Searches That Solve Problems: How People Use the Internet, Government Agencies, and Libraries When They Need Help."
This survey, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the University of Illinois, looked at overall library use as well as library use for solving problems related to subjects such as health care, education, taxes and job searches. It found that Internet users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as non-Internet users and that more than two-thirds of library visitors in all age groups use computers while at the library.
In Georgia, 38 of 58 public library systems (Troup-Harris Regional Library and the Coweta County Public Library counted as one system for FY2007) showed an increase in the number of users of electronic resources, adding a total of 1,364,361 users. A total of 13,360,702 people used public-access Internet computers at Georgia's public libraries in FY2007.
According to Diana Very, director of LSTA, Statistics & Research for GPLS, the largest increases in users of electronic resources were in the Middle Georgia Regional Library, Gwinnett County Public Library, Cobb County Pubic Library and Bartow County Public Library systems. Bartow, one of the fastest growing counties in Georgia, showed the largest increase, adding 336,255 users over the system's FY2006 number of 85,389 for a total of 421,644 users in FY2007.
Overall, public library visits in Georgia increased from 31,952,301 in FY2006 to 35,703,912 in FY 2007. "That difference equates to 41 percent of the entire state's population," Very said. "It's clear that Georgia library patrons are wisely using their libraries to meet their information needs. It's also clear that, whether for recreation, study or business, public libraries are continuing to provide the services needed by their communities."
Georgia's population increased from 8,789,529 to 9,098,140 between FY2006 and FY2007. State funding for public libraries increased to $37,815,316, accounting for approximately 18 percent of the $205,353,685 of total funding. Federal funds provide about 1 percent of the total, with more than 80 percent of library funding coming from the local level.
Public libraries continue to show impressively high returns on investment for the state and for their respective communities. More than 40.8 million books and other materials were borrowed from Georgia's public libraries in FY2007. "With an average book cost of $25," Very said, "this saved the people of Georgia approximately $1 billion.
"With 1,477,126 children attending programs at Georgia's public libraries in FY2007 and the average cost of a child's movie theater ticket being $5, this is equivalent to Georgia parents saving another $7.3 million. Adding the $3 average cost of a 30-minute session at an Internet caf� for those 13 million people who used public-access computers at public libraries saved the people of Georgia another $40 million this year."
The estimated value of these services was $1,067,872,111 -- $117.37 per capita -- in FY 2007, Very explained. Yet those libraries only spent $205,353,685 -- $22.57 per capita.
In addition to the costs associated with providing the previously mentioned services, public library expenditures paid for the salaries of 3,018 staff and 55,608 programs, of which 42,115 were for children. According to Elaine Black, director of Children's Services for GPLS, attendance at children's programs reached nearly 1.5 million in FY2007. "Libraries continue to be a community's premiere source for quality literature-based programming for Georgia's children, families and teens," she said.
Attendance at Vacation Reading Program events alone was almost 400,000. "In addition to visiting the library for programs," Black said, "VRP participants this year reported more than 1.9 million books read and more than half a million hours spent reading. In addition, they reported taking part in more than 88,000 related literacy activities."
PINES experienced a whopping 40 percent increase in lending during the past year. A statewide consortium that has grown to include more than 275 public libraries and affiliated service outlets in 137 counties, the Public Information Network for Electronic Services -- PINES, for short -- offers Georgia citizens a shared catalog of more than 9.3 million items, with a single library card that is welcomed in all member libraries. PINES now boasts more than 1.7 million registered cardholders -- just under 19 percent of the state's population but more than 35 percent of the citizens living in a county served by the system.
"I was amazed by the increase in number of unique patron holds placed through PINES this year," said PINES Program Director Elizabeth McKinney de Garcia. "It shows an all-around increase in library use that is further backed up by the results from the PINES Annual User Survey that we conduct each year in April. This year's survey indicated that 81.7 percent of our cardholders use the PINES catalog at least weekly to renew books, determine fines or renew items they have checked out."
Garcia pointed out that less than $2 million in state and federal money went to fund PINES. "This is an incredible bargain for the state," she said. "It would cost approximately $15 million to replace PINES with individual automation systems for the current member library systems and GPLS, not to mention the approximately $5 million it would cost each year to maintain those systems."
The national survey, which was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, indicated that more than half of American adults visited a local public library in the past 12 months. Among the most frequent library users were young families; 63 percent of parents with children visited the library, compared to 48 percent of those without children at home. It also indicated that the highest rate of use of those visiting libraries for help solving problems was among young people who need high Internet access but who have low incomes because they are still in school or are just starting their careers in lower-paid jobs.
A complete copy of the national report can be found at www.pewInternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp. Once final numbers have been verified, Georgia's figures will be available from the GPLS Web site at www.georgialibraries.org/lib/publiclibinfo.