Perceived outcomes of public libraries in the U.S.

•The top perceived public library outcomes were: reading fiction, reading nonfiction, and self-education.•Perceived public library outcomes differed by demographics.•Women and more educated individual perceived greater reading and self-education benefits.•Younger respondents and members of ethnic minorities perceived greater work and everyday benefits.•Higher-income respondents perceived greater everyday benefits.

Public libraries are under constant pressure to demonstrate their worth. Outcome measures can present the benefits public libraries bring to individuals in terms that are relevant to them. Beyond service-specific outcome assessments, however, few nationwide studies have examined the benefits of public libraries as a whole. Following the Finnish national survey conducted by Vakkari and Serola (2012), this study surveyed more than 1000 U.S. respondents on 22 areas of benefits. The benefits were reduced by factor analysis to three dimensions. ANOVAs were used to test demographic differences in these benefit dimensions. The findings show that most respondents viewed the impact of public libraries on their lives positively. The most frequently perceived benefit was in the reading and self-education dimension. Significant gender and education attainment differences were found for this dimension, with women and more educated respondents giving more positive responses. In contrast, age and race/ethnicity differences were significant in the work and formal education dimension and in the everyday activities and interests dimension. In both dimensions, younger respondents and ethnic minorities reported more positive responses. For the everyday activities dimension, higher-income respondents reported more frequent benefits. Overall, the public library was perceived by different demographic groups as contributing to different dimensions of their lives. There are still areas for further improvement, such as reaching lower-income individuals and seniors in the everyday activities dimension. Continual efforts are needed to measure and communicate the value of public libraries, so that funders and the public will support public libraries with the resources needed to provide quality services to all.