Economic value of libraries

Stephen Abram has gone to town (again). This time with demonstrating economic value in libraries. I first saw his article--thanks to Alane--in the Spring 2005 issue of Letter of the LAA, the magazine of Alberta libraries (Canada).

Then today one of our trusty Information Center librarians sent me a link to his (longer) article online, entitled The Value of Libraries: Impact, Normative Data, & Influencing Funders. What's great about Stephen's article is that he's taken a lot of valuable efforts that have been gathering steam (including our own advocacy initiative) and combines them into a powerful article with plenty of hard facts and statistics. Quotable facts you might have on hand for your next library board meeting.

And he's addressed many of the library types individually--so schools, you're in there. Corporate libraries, you're there, too. It's a great resource.

I am pleased to say that bibliographies work. We put our bibliography out on the Advocacy section--and sure enough, Stephen looked at the same sources we did. Feels good to know that other people are benefitting from the work you've done and shared.

Stephen's article in February LJ about Google and the opportunity for libraries.

Rock on and keep going!