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SURVIVOR LEGACY: VALUES YOU CAN USE Carolyn Noah, Vice-President, MLA Whether or not you made it to “Survivor: Library Success in Difficult Times”, recently cosponsored by the Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) with Regions across the state, there is a durable online tool at your disposal. The “Value of Public Library Service” tool provides a concrete, practical measure of the market worth of services provided by a public library. Standard library services were selected for inclusion. Their market values were assigned with an eye to ensuring that a typical library customer would understand how it was derived. For example, a book borrowed is valued at $12.50, the estimated average discount cost of a hardcover. Each magazine circulated is worth $4, the estimated average cost to purchase. Use the spreadsheet online as it is, by simply entering use statistics into the appropriate fields – and the spreadsheet does the rest. Any librarian who wants to download and modify the tool for specific programs is encouraged. Here are some of the many ways library directors, Trustees and advocates can use the results: to justify the budget, show bigger value for the municipal dollar, advertise the service, help make internal budget decisions, or derive a per capita value for various library resources. Share them with select boards, administrators, on cable TV or in annual reports. Let us know if you have suggestions! Find the tool online at: http://www.masslib.org/LibraryValue.html. Two other power tools for the advocacy kit were featured at the Survivor programs. First, on the MA Board of Library Commissioner’s website, check out “Massachusetts Library Statistics and Charting Your Library with Peer Institutions”. Create your own graphs comparing your library to the medians for your population group, region, and the state. See: http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/files/data_coordination/library_charts.shtml. Last but not least, MLA provides MLA CapWiz, an easy tool with which advocates can contact legislators. Type in your zip + four to identify your local legislators and learn their addresses and contact information. See: http://capwiz.com/masslib/officials/state/?state=M |