Our Public Library worth a billion dollars to city's economy, says U of T's Rotman School of Business

TORONTO, Dec. 5, 2013 /CNW/ - Torontonians who use the Library receive as much as $502 a year in benefits and every dollar invested in our public library delivers $5.63 in value to the City, according to the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

Commissioned by the Library Board, the study found that the total economic impact of our public library on Toronto's economy is $1 billion.  The study's authors measured direct tangible benefits such as collection use, direct spending on library operations such as employment, and indirect tangible benefits.

The study also found that $2,515 worth of services are delivered every hour the library is open, on average, compared to $656 in cost.

"We congratulate the Library Board for conducting this study. It makes a powerful argument for re-investing to make up for years of cuts and neglect of our public library," said Toronto Public Library Workers Union President Maureen O'Reilly.

These are all points made in our recently-released four-minute animated video OurPublicLibrary.to, which premiered to a prolonged ovation at the November 24^th City Hall Forum on the Future of the Toronto Public Library. The video is narrated by Dr. Vincent Lam, 2006 Scotiabank Giller Award winner.

According to a summary of the Rotman study posted to the website of the Toronto Public Library, "the study also describes but does not quantify the intangible benefits of using library services and that those library services contribute in many ways to the City's goals for economic growth and prosperity, creating significant value for residents."

The study will be released at a meeting of the Toronto Public Library Board which takes place at the Toronto Reference Library, at 6:00 pm, Monday, December 9, 2013.

SOURCE: Toronto Public Library Workers Union

Maureen O'Reilly 647-206-7457