Suffolk Libraries has been involved in commissioning a piece of research which has found the country’s libraries generate £3.4 billion in social value every year!
The research has been published today in a new report ‘Libraries for living, and for living better’ which was commissioned by Libraries Connected East, the eastern regional network of charity Libraries Connected. The project has been supported by library services in the East of England, including Suffolk, with funding from Arts Council England.
The analysis has been carried out by economists from the University of East Anglia.
Through extensive library visits across the East of England, user interviews and statistical analysis, the authors of the report estimated that a branch library typically provides £1m in value every year. Across all of England’s 3,000 libraries this amounts to a national total of £3.4bn. This represents a return on investment of at least six times the cost of running libraries.
The report comes a few months after the findings of previous research revealed every £1 spent on Suffolk Libraries’ services creates £6 in social value, that Suffolk Libraries generate £41m worth of social value annually and saves NHS services in Suffolk over £500K every year.
Bruce Leeke, Chief Executive of Suffolk Libraries, said:
“This latest piece of research strongly supports the work we’ve already done to show the true value of libraries in Suffolk and particularly the positive impact they have on our communities. These sums are staggering and highlight why it’s so vital that we champion and support our libraries.
"People share so many heartwarming stories with us of how important our libraries are to them and it’s crucial that funders and key stakeholders also realise that investing in libraries has a huge and much wider benefit to society.”
One of the specific examples given in the report is the Reading Sparks programme at Gainsborough Library in Ipswich which involves young adults aged 14-18 sharing their understanding of science with children and families in their community. The Libraries Connected research found Reading Sparks has ‘generated over £300,000 in value for 650 participants.’
