Value of book borrowing from public libraries: user perceptions

INTRODUCTION Library evaluation is not new but it has evolved from measuring mainly inputs and outputs to the assessment of value and impact. Aided by the wealth of quantitative and qualitative information now available, several approaches have been taken. One of these, The Economic Value of Public Libraries, has been the subject of a Resource funded research project in the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University (Morris, Hawkins and Sumsion, 2000). It focused on ways of assessing the economic impact of the public library service – its value to the individual and, in total, to society. This article does not attempt to summarize the evidence and arguments presented there. However, some reference to them follows in order to describe the background and context of the particular survey work which is the subject of this paper.