Household use of public libraries and large bookstores

This article examines competition between large, inexpensive bookstores and public libraries. Using the National Household Education Survey and logit and multinomial logit estimation procedures, the study finds that large bookstores reduce the probability of household library use for some, but not all, uses of the library. Children's programming is found to be mostly immune to competition whereas job-related and informational uses of the library are reduced. The measure of crowding out is largely from diminished library use by middle-income households. Because this group traditionally uses the library most frequently, the impact of these bookstores could potentially alter the funding and services libraries traditionally offer, changing their redistributional capabilities.