Impact of Great Recession on Library Use: Does a Negative Economy Impact Library Use?

ABSTRACT The librarian’s axiom which states that when the economy is failing, use of the public library increases, has existed since the late 19th century. Educator and library administrator Steven James is credited with naming this phenomenon as he attempted to extrapolate the relationship between library usage and economic conditions. James’ 1985 research found no correlation between library use and economic using data from the sixties to the mid-seventies. However, the American Library Association’s Library Research Center several years later found that material circulation had increased significantly in the late nineties, a time of noted economic strife, leaving the question of the impact of economic trends on library use unresolved. Numerous articles dealing with library usage, economic downturns, library funding, and patron needs seek to understand past trends while anticipating, and even predicting, trends of the modern public library. This axiom bears out anecdotally; yet it is technically unproven statistically. The defined period of the Great Recession provides an opportunity to address this belief by using existing public library usage statistics. For this article, statistics used will be two years before, during, and two years after the Great Recession (2006–2011). Taking the annual data from public libraries which is reported to the state library agencies and then compiled nationally by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Library Service (PLS), Library Journal created the LJ Index of Public Library Service and Star library rating system. The LJ Index scores consist of the following four per capita service output statistics: library visits, circulation, program attendance, and public internet use. Specifically, library visits and circulation statistics are utilized to determine if, during this time of documented economic strife, library usage increased as per the librarian’s axiom.