A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8 billion in value to local communities \u2014 a return of $4.74 for every $1 invested.<\/p>\n
The report<\/a>, “Beyond the Stacks: Measuring the Economic and Community Value of Texas Public Libraries” was conducted by third-party consultancy JBK Economics Group in partnership with the Texas Library Association. About 300 of the total 513 public libraries in Texas participated in a survey for the report.<\/p>\n A major finding from the survey revealed that public libraries create billions in economic value for the communities they serve at a fraction of what it costs to pay employee wages and benefits, operating expenditures, and capital expenditures. About 11,200 jobs were directly and indirectly supported by public libraries, the report found. <\/p>\n The report found its $4.74 to $1 ratio by adding up the total value of the services provided by these institutions (an estimated $2.48 billion), and comparing it to total expenditures ($808.6 million).<\/p>\n “Public libraries had about the same economic footprint as the Texas motion picture and sound recording industry ($2.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024) or the Texas paper manufacturing industry ($4.0 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024),” the report said.<\/p>\n Many North Texans are already familiar with Fort Worth Public Library’s expansive catalog and programming, but there are many more services the library provides that might fly under the radar. A few examples include free passes to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden<\/a> and Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge<\/a>, access to subscription-based research databases and news outlets<\/a>, musical instrument lending<\/a>, and much more. Individual branches also provide free Wi-Fi, computer access, and meeting spaces.<\/p>\n Residents outside Fort Worth also have access to services at several other local libraries, depending on their address. For instance, Keller Public Library offers borrowing access to non-residents in nearby cities that participate in MetroShare, which includes Burleson, Benbrook, Forest Hill, Decatur, Haltom City, Haslet, Richland Hills, Roanoke, Saginaw, and Watauga.<\/p>\n These are additional services and partnerships that Texas public libraries commonly provide, per the survey results:<\/p>\n 93 percent provide voter registration and\/or serve as voting locations84 percent provide partnerships with local social services agencies82 percent provide job application assistance68 percent facilitate applications for government benefits38 percent provide on-site social services30 percent provide telehealth rooms and\/or resources<\/p>\n “Public libraries are practical, welcoming and rooted in the communities they serve \u2014 they are unmistakably Texan,” said Texas Library Association executive director Shirley Robinson in a press release. “This study puts a dollar value on the opportunities libraries create every day. Whether someone visits a library to apply for a job, access the internet, learn a new skill or simply find a new favorite book, those services create real value for Texans and their communities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117,9080,427,423,83960],"class_list":["post-462285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-heb","tag-hot-headlines","tag-openings","tag-popular-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}