Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director

From Awareness to Funding, the most recent report from OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc., affirmed aspects of my own experiences based on years of advocating for libraries and offered some surprises.  Primary findings of this lengthy and statistically sound demographic study funded through the generous and continuing support of the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation include:

Cathy De Rosa, OCLC Vice President for the Americas and Global Vice President of Marketing, keynoted a recent MINITEX workshop.  She shared the good news that there are increased possibilities to change the trend of flat or decreasing library funding as there is latent support for libraries.  However, the challenge will be to shift these latent feelings about the library into real support at a time when there are ever increasing demands on the public sector.  Library advocates must do a better job positioning the library as part of local infrastructure.

Two key results did not surprise me.  First, the correlation between support for library funding and library visits is fairly low and secondly, the positive impact library staff on funding potential.  For years, I have worked with dedicated community residents around southeastern Minnesota who take great pride in their library but are not necessarily among its regular users.  While I considered this disconnect between support and use strange, I’ve never rejected the proverbial “gift horse” of their support.  Despite a myriad of rules (2-week checkouts for some items, 3-day checkouts for others, different fine rates, etc.) library staff members come to work each day ready and willing to help the library user.  And, library customers respond with repeat visits and speaking well of library services.

The response by local elected officials regarding library visits was a surprise.   Based on the survey responses, elected officials report 19 library visits a year.  While this certainly contradicts anecdotal reports from local library directors and library registration records, the good news in Chapter 3 istates 73% of local elected officials have a positive impression of the library and 77% feel the library provides essential resources that some people could not otherwise afford.

The “Emotional and Intellectual Rewards Framework” graph in Chapter 4 depicts my other surprise.  The four-quadrant chart is defined as “Transformation, Information, Purpose, and Escape.”  Respondents firmly classify the public library as providing “information with a purpose.”  Great – right?  We accomplished the goals of so many publicity campaigns denoting the library as an information place.  But – no!  The report reveals that those willing to spend more money on libraries want the library to transform.  Despite publicity that shouted information, library audiences did not make the intuitive leap that possessing information can transform one’s life.  After nearly a decade of the @your library campaign, ALA can claim a degree of success but will want to craft a new message based on this OCLC study.

SELCO has copies of From Awareness to Funding in the professional collection and I encourage you to check it out