Library support in America

Now available: new OCLC membership report -- From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America

OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S. The findings of this research are now available in the latest OCLC report, From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America.

Among the findings from the report:

*Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation.
*Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support.
*Voters who see the library as a "transformational" force as opposed to an "information" source are more likely to increase taxes in its support.

From Chapter 1:
"Public library use is growing...But the public funding...is not keeping up with demand."

The report suggests that targeting marketing messages to the right segments of the voting public is key to driving increased support for U.S. public libraries.

Purchase a print copy of the report or download a free, electronic version at www.oclc.org/reports/funding.