How much value does your library add to your community? In FY2019, Fondulac District Library circulated 221,581 items. 106,590 visitors walked through our doors, and 12,269 patrons attended 602 programs. FDL currently has more than 157,000 items in the collection and processed 40,096 Interlibrary Loan requests. Patrons used the computers 28,327 times, used WiFi 13,104 times, and occupied the study rooms 1,877 times. Library staff answered 13,010 reference questions — and the list just goes on. These annual statistics help show how much the library’s services and resources are utilized by the community, but it’s harder to show how much those are actually worth.
The American Library Association provides an online tool (developed by the Massachusetts Library Association) to calculate an estimated monetary value for library services. According to the calculator, FDL provided approximately $5,014,463 in services to the public last fiscal year (with a return investment of $3.08). As for the value of your library card? Dividing the annual value by cardholders reveals that the average cardholder saves an estimated $618 every year — just by using their FDL card! And that’s not even including materials such as the library’s board games and Rokus, or services like the ScanStation, exam proctoring, and 3D printing! Calculate your individual use of the library by visiting ala.org/advocacy/library-value-calculator.