People Aren’t Going to Libraries As Much Anymore. Why, and What Can We Do?
I have been an avid attender of libraries since I can remember. As a child, my mom would take me to the library almost every weekend to pick out a new book. When I was 16 years old, I worked as an intern for my high school’s librarian. I’ve now been working at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for three years. I’m even considering getting my master’s in library science.
Libraries have long been staples of communities. Children and adults alike can find a place for themselves at the library, whether it be reading a fairy-tale, doing research for a thesis, or getting a lesson on some new technology. Americans still think libraries are super important (roughly 76 percent think losing their library would be detrimental to their community). But the attendance rates of public libraries are still on a steady decline.
Pew Research did a study showing that only 44% of Americans had visited a library in the last 12 months, which is down from 53 percent three years ago. What’s going on?
Why do researchers think library attendance is going down? Technology
Researchers at Pew have suggested that the decline in library attendance is driven by technological changes. We now have the capability to research practically anything in seconds and from anywhere we please (77% of Americans own a smartphone). We don’t necessarily need to take the time to drive down to a library to find out information we’re looking for.
To keep up with the times, libraries have started to make some changes. A majority of libraries now offer things like:
- WiFi access,
- access to their desktops,
- technological workshops,
- virtual access to eBooks, and other digital materials.
WiFi access, desktop use, and technological workshops may be ways to increase attendance rates, and providing materials that can be accessed online from anywhere is pretty great. However, due to these e-materials, actually attending the library is made kind of obsolete if research is all you need.
Obviously, the capabilities we have with technology have radically increased over the years. But is that the be-all-end-all of why people don’t go to libraries as much anymore? It’s not!
Funding is a major indicator of attendance
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) does a lot when it comes to collecting data on libraries. Their latest completed study, which spans from 2002 to 2013, charts the downward trends in the revenues of libraries. The IMLS believes that revenue determines everything. They state that, when “investments, such as revenue, staffing, and programs increased, so did critical use measures, such as visitation and circulation”.
On the opposite end, when investments were reduced, there were clear decreases in library use. So, ultimately, when libraries receive more public funding, more people want to use them.
Why do investments and attendance rates correlate?
When libraries lose funding from government agencies, they lose out on a lot of stuff. They can’t:
- update their collections as frequently,
- hire as many professional librarians,
- offer as many services, resources, or information sessions,
- stay open for as long as they may have been able to before, and so on.
When there are less and less things drawing people to the libraries, they’re going to go less and less.
Think about your own decision making in this scenario. You have to do some research on a topic and trying to do the work at home just isn’t cutting it. Maybe you need help trying to find a specific paper. Would you want to go to a library that was last updated maybe 5 years ago? The content you’re looking for might not even be there. And would you want the person helping you to struggle locating that paper you need when a professional librarian would know exactly how to find it? Almost definitely not. You want new resources, updated technology, and a competent staff.
So, what about the government then? Will they dish out more funds?
Ehhh, questionable. The Trump administration proposed to eliminate funding the IMLS, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Doesn’t sound great, right?
While a push from the president to eliminate funding for these important agencies may make people nervous, it was met with some pretty rigorous backlash from those in the library and educational communities. The House of Representatives thankfully voted to keep the full funding of these agencies within the budget. But if the president made this first move towards eliminating these departments, how secure the funding is for the services that work to keep libraries afloat is uncertain.
The federal government doesn’t have the only hand in the matter, though. Local governments are major sources of funding for public libraries, and convincing the decision-makers of these governments to increase their budget for funding their libraries may not be the easiest thing in the world. People may appreciate the idea of libraries, sure. But their willingness to fund the services libraries offer may be lacking.
Is there a difference between public libraries and academic libraries when it comes to funding?
There definitely is a difference. Public libraries tend to spend their money on expanding their staff and their offered services while putting updating their collections on the back burner. Academic libraries are more prone to spending money on continually updating their collections and electronic information, but their staffing takes a hit. They have taken on more master-degree trained librarians, but they cut a lot of jobs tied to non-professional staff.
While public and academic libraries do have their differences, they retain similarity in that they both seem to be fading into the background. A few studies have been done by organizations like the Association of Research Libraries that show that the portion of spending in higher education dedicated to libraries decreased by 25% from the 1990’s up to a little before 2010. Whether it be at the government level or the academic level, funding priorities are shifting away from both public and academic libraries.
My personal thoughts about these attendance and funding trends
Libraries have played a huge role in my personal and academic life. My love for books definitely sparked my interest in the library, but my appreciation for the structure itself, the resources offered, and the people that dedicate their lives to library science keeps me involved. I credit a huge amount of my academic, and honestly, my personal success to the various libraries I’ve frequented throughout my life.
Declining attendance rates of libraries hurts to see, and the fact that this decline is due in large part to a lack of funding is aggravating. Libraries are pillars of education in every community and academic setting. Take a stand. Fight for funding for your public and academic libraries. They’re at stake, and if attendance continues to go down, future generations could miss out on the fairy-tales and the research we’ve taken for granted.