POTSDAM — The Northern New York Library Network, based in Potsdam, will conduct a three-year national research project, Libraries in Community Systems.

The project will build on a growing body of research that studies the impact of cultural organizations on social wellbeing, the organization said in a press release.

The network hopes the study to create a clearer understanding of the unique role public libraries play within community systems, and how this role can be maximized for improved social wellbeing outcomes.

Economic valuations of public libraries have historically focused on the exchange between the library and the local market economy—impact on local economic activity, cost savings to patrons through resource sharing, and so on—often ignoring non-monetized social goods. This research will take an approach which allows for the valuation of non-market services and social return.

Wellbeing is a composite of many elements—physical and mental health, economic security, school effectiveness, cultural engagement, political voice, etc.—that amounts to people having what economist Amartya Sen describes as “the freedom to lead lives they have reason to value.” Those elements can be connected to indicators captured in data. This research will develop tools that map relevant data and inputs to assess the impact of library services on those broad social outcomes. Principal Investigator Margo Gustina, librarian and economics PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico, explained “By the time this project ends, the library field will have tools to measure what their libraries produce, and they can pursue partnerships and programming with vision and confidence.”

Over the course of three years the project will work with 32 libraries in four states—Alaska, New York, South Carolina, and Texas—to generate valuation models of library service in terms of social wellbeing outcomes. Follow this research or sign up for updates about it at https://nnyln.org/about/imls-research21-24. This work is funded by a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Northern New York Library Network is a regional non-profit library agency dedicated to distributing resources and services among its members in the North Country. Member organizations include all types of libraries: academics, school (P-12), public, archives, and special libraries. The purpose of the Network is to provide collaboration and support to help members meet their individual goals, for the ultimate benefit of the library user.