I have worked in libraries all my life and I am always humbled by what library users tell us about our impact. Libraries make a powerful difference to people's lives here in Kent and across the country every day - on individuals, communities and the wider public sector.
But I'm the first to admit that, as library leaders, it can be challenging to express that value in terms that our colleagues in public health, social care and the NHS would recognise and accept. We have long understood the need to be clearer and more sophisticated in demonstrating our impact.
The South East regional network of Libraries Connected, which I chair, decided to meet this challenge head-on. In partnership with the consultancy Shared Intelligence, we embarked on a project to apply Treasury-approved valuation methods to everyday library activities. Our aim was to show, in clear economic terms, the value libraries generate - particularly in preventing more costly interventions elsewhere in the system.
A ‘knit and natter' session may seem unremarkable but for participants it provides meaningful social interaction (perhaps their only social interaction that week), a sense of purpose, and an opportunity to stay mentally and physically active. As the study shows, these benefits translate into improved wellbeing and reduced reliance on frontline health and care services.
We settled on three activities – the sort of things you'd find in any library, anywhere in the country: arts and crafts activities for older people; volunteering opportunities; and activities that reduce loneliness, such as book groups. These are not specialist programmes; they are core, everyday activities that most library services offer.
Researchers gathered data from attendees and volunteers across 11 library services in the South East. Using Green Book standard economic evaluation tools - such as quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and the WELLBY measure of life satisfaction - the researchers found that these three activities alone generate millions in value each year.
Weekly arts and crafts sessions for older adults create at least £491,000 each year in value, based on improvements to quality of life. Library volunteering contributes £342,000 annually by helping reduce isolation and improve life satisfaction. Meanwhile, activities aimed at reducing loneliness generate £913,000 in combined health, productivity and wellbeing value each year.
This is based on real data from actual library users, not estimates. If all South East library services collected user data for these activities, the true annual value would be revealed - and it would be many times greater.
We titled the resulting report The Power of Prevention because it clearly demonstrates that libraries already have an important preventative role and that investment in them can reduce pressure on more intensive and expensive services.
A ‘knit and natter' session may seem unremarkable but for participants it provides meaningful social interaction (perhaps their only social interaction that week), a sense of purpose, and an opportunity to stay mentally and physically active. As the study shows, these benefits translate into improved wellbeing and reduced reliance on frontline health and care services.
Our hope is that the research will encourage local authorities - and central government - to explore new and innovative ways of funding libraries. Some councils already support libraries through public health budgets, for example, recognising their preventative role. We believe many more could follow suit, especially now that we have robust evidence to support the case.
Of course, this study is just the tip of the iceberg, and we hope more research will follow. We only looked at three activities. To reveal the library sector's true economic impact, Green Book standard economic tools must be applied to the full range of outcomes and activities that libraries support. This includes literacy and reading for pleasure, digital inclusion, job seeking support, business advice and much more.
Libraries are often underestimated – but they are engines of growth, and community positive wellbeing. They are anchors of our high streets, cities, towns and villages. As a profession we must raise our voice and speak with greater confidence about our preventative power and the measurable impact we deliver. I hope this research helps us do just that.
James Pearson is head of libraries, registration & archives at Kent CC
