The Keene Public Library provides many invaluable services through access to information, resources, and learning as well as a sense of community. At the library, you can attend programs, browse the collection, or simply pass time with friends at no cost. The impact of library services can be hard to measure, but what do the numbers look like?
Director Marti Fiske used a tool created by the Maine State Library, a Library-Use-Calculator, to assess the value of library services rendered based on the statistics from last year’s annual report. After running the numbers, the total estimated value was $3,182,878, which accounts for a 27.6% direct return on investment from the library’s total budget.
This ROI is underestimated. The Library-Use-Calculators available can’t figure value for all the diverse services that Keene Public Library provides, including loans of “things,” games, makerspace equipment, database use, and connections in the community. The library regularly partners with other community organizations to improve accessibility and quality of life for Cheshire County residents. These partnerships not only benefit the partnering organizations but the community as well. Such partnerships lead to a wide range of programming and new services, such as the Outdoor Gear Library created with Monadnock Outdoors and the Healthy Monadnock Alliance.
Keene Public Library also promotes positive economic impacts for our local economy. People who visit the library do other business in Keene while downtown. When an international organization rented space at the library for their regional conference last August, attendees patronized downtown businesses and made their trip into a mini family vacation, boosting tourism in the area. In addition, library services support sustainable work force development with early learning initiatives, pre-school readiness, equitable access to the internet, training on innovative technology in the Makerspace, and more.
Keene Public Library’s support of learning, through both formal and informal methods, allows our community and the individuals living in it to thrive.
