Libraries in society: comparing international metrics of societal progress to library usage statistics

Introduction. Literacy is a major predictor of education, income, and health. Both historically and currently, libraries have been leaders in promoting literacy globally. The objective of this research is to determine if countries with higher metrics related to the Sustainable Development Goals also demonstrate evidence of stronger relationships between library usage and literacy. Method. Using data from the World Bank, UNESCO, the United Nations and the IFLA Map of the World, the author grouped countries several different ways by income levels, the Human Development Index, literacy rate, and the Gender Inequality Index in order to explore the relationship between literacy and library usage in each categorization. Analysis. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to determine if there is a relationship between the variables. Results. In the grouping of countries by HDI, literacy, progress, GII and income, the correlation coefficients generally increased for each individual library usage statistic as the indicator improved. Conclusion. In groupings of countries with higher metrics of societal health, correlation rates between library usage and literacy increase from country groups with lower rates of those metrics.