State of America's Libraries Report 2011: Job-seekers, Entrepreneurs Continue to Turn to Local Library for Help

The Great Recession may have come to an end, but hard-pressed Americans continue to turn to their local libraries for help in finding a job or launching their own business.

This and other library trends of the past year are detailed in the State of America’s Libraries, 2011, released this week (National Library Week) by the American Library Association.

More than two-thirds of the 1,000-plus adults contacted in a survey in January said that the library’s assistance in starting a business or finding a job was important to them, according to the poll, conducted for the American Library Association by Harris Interactive.

Sixty-five percent of those polled said they had visited the library in the past year; women are significantly more likely than men (72 percent vs. 58 percent) to fall into this category, especially working women, working mothers and women aged 18-54. Overall, 58 percent of those surveyed said they had a library card, and the largest group was, again, women, especially working women and working mothers. College graduates and those with a household income of more than $100,000 were also well represented among card holders, according to the survey.

Other key trends detailed in the 2011 State of America’s Libraries Report:

• The availability of wireless Internet in public libraries is approaching 85 percent, and about two-thirds of them extend wireless access outside the library. Computer usage at public libraries continues to increase.
• Almost all academic libraries offer e-books, as do more than two-thirds of public libraries. For most libraries, e-books are only still a small percentage of circulated items – but represent the fastest-growing segment.
• A battle over the future of widely used e-books was joined in March, when HarperCollins announced that it will not allow its e-books to be checked out from a library more than 26 times, raising the possibility that e-books that are not repurchased would be available at the library for only about a year.
• Students and faculty are using academic libraries more than ever. During a typical week, academic libraries had more than 31 million searches in electronic databases, answered 469,000 reference questions and made 12,000 group presentations. At the same time, many academic libraries are grappling with budget reductions and subsequent restructuring.
• U.S. libraries of all types continue to make increasing use of social media and Web 2.0 applications and tools to connect with library users and to market programs and services. Facebook, Twitter and blogging tools are the favorites.
• Taxpayers entrusted libraries with their tax dollars by approving 87 percent of operating measures on ballots across the country.
• Libraries, bookstores and individuals nationwide continue to battle censorship, and thousands of people read from banned or challenged books during Banned Books Week (25 September–2 October 2010).
• School expenditures on information resources decreased 9.4 percent from the previous year. Nevertheless, the average number of hours school library staff spent each week delivering instruction continued to increase (0.5 hours more than in 2009, for a total of 15 hours).
• The library profession continues its efforts to make its ranks more accessible to minorities and to strengthen its outreach efforts to underserved populations. The ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship Program, for example, awarded 75 scholarships in 2010 to members of underrepresented groups to help them pursue master’s degrees. And the Family Literacy Focus initiative, launched by 2009-2010 ALA President Camila Alire, encourages families in ethnically diverse communities to read and learn together.
• To turn children into lifelong readers, libraries are building spaces as creative and playful as their youngest patrons. And those spaces are becoming greener: Environmental sustainability continues to gain the attention of library designers, with a number of new libraries certified under the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program.
• The library community is both struggling to keep up with the digital revolution – and envisioning a future that incorporates new philosophies, technologies and spaces to meet all users’ needs more effectively. As one analyst notes, the changes “go beyond merely incorporating technological advances to include rethinking the very core of what defines a library - [a] sense of place, of service, and of community.”

To access the complete report, please visit:

American Library Association: The State of America’s Libraries, 2011