Libraries Doing the Math — How Texas Public Libraries Make Every Dollar Count

Every day, public libraries in America are doing invaluable work to support and maintain the communities they serve. While this statement is far from controversial to many American citizens, not all library systems are trusted so readily, especially by those who see libraries as a mere tax expense.

We library lovers tend to describe our libraries in noneconomic, intrinsic terms, speaking glowingly of the help they provide and the lives they influence, without delving into the line-by-line breakdown of how a community benefits from investing in them. 

The Texas Library Association released an economic study intended to answer just that question: What are Texas public libraries worth to the state? In doing so, it has drawn up a blueprint that paves the way for all public libraries, not just those in Texas, to emphasize their importance by citing the study's findings and trends. The story of Texas’s public libraries and their indispensable role in supporting communities across the state deserves wider attention.

Sign the pledge to vote for libraries!

How Far Does $1 Really Go?

While this study is large and complex, there are a few takeaways we can outline up front. The Texas library economic footprint comes down to two sums: what it takes to maintain public libraries and what they produce in total economic impact for Texans. 

In 2024, Texas public libraries required just over $800 million to operate and carry out their mission. During that same year, the study estimates they generated $3.8 billion in total economic benefits. If we do some simple math, we can calculate that every dollar spent on libraries in 2024 netted roughly $4.74 in what the study terms “community value,” or what we might call an ROI, or return on investment.

This is far from the money sink that critics of government and public spending have often accused libraries of being; instead, this ROI ratio suggests that spending on libraries is a rock-solid investment in local communities, with the 2011 and 2016 ratios coming in at 4.42 and 4.6, respectively.

Your donations help support libraries across the country. 

Community Value

Now that we’re more familiar with the financial math, just what do Texans actually receive for that investment? To start, public libraries provide services many of us know well, from lending books, DVDs, and audiobooks to hosting children's storytimes and craft hours.

Just as important are the contributions public libraries make to the economic and civic well-being of Texas. One such field is employment and social services, which are increasingly embedded in public libraries to provide people in need with access to multiple service avenues in one convenient location. Access to digital services — the internet, wifi hotspots, and more — is a vital resource as well that, were public libraries less well funded and resources harder to come by, many Texans might simply have to go without.

Finally, a commonly overlooked finding from the study is the size of the public library workforce across Texas. In 2024, it stood at 11,200 jobs, directly and indirectly supported by statewide investment in libraries. When we consider the economic impact these funds have on both library staff and patrons—and the disquieting economic realities that the loss of either library jobs or services would inflict on communities across Texas—we must accept that libraries are more than a simple convenience. In their current form, they are an economic and social necessity for their communities, and if trends hold, they will grow even more so in due time.

This article highlights just a few findings from the study. You can read the full report and explore how your own library contributes to the community, from providing access to information and technology to supporting education, employment, and civic engagement. If you’d like to support library advocacy efforts nationwide, consider donating to EveryLibrary.

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

#librarymarketers: Enjoy this story? Want to use it for your library newsletter, blog, or social media? This article is published under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International and is free to edit and use with attribution. Please cite EveryLibrary on medium.com/everylibrary.

This work by EveryLibrary is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0