South Carolina Public Library Economic Impact Study - Illinois

Background and Rationale for the StudyAs a public service to the library and information profession and the people ofSouth Carolina, faculty from the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS),University of South Carolina (USC) offered their research expertise to the South CarolinaAssociation of Public Library Administrators (APLA) gratis to conduct a study of theeconomic impact of public libraries in South Carolina. The project came as a response toa suggestion from the most recent reaffirmation of accreditation review of SLIS by theAmerican Library Association (ALA), Committee on Accreditation (COA). TheCommittee indicated that members of the public library community had expressed theconcern that SLIS was not working as closely with that part of the profession as theywere with others (i.e., providing research assistance, consultation, and professionaldevelopment). The study was undertaken in part to demonstrate the School’s continuedinterest and commitment to the public library community, and also because the topic is ofnational interest, offers faculty members the opportunity to engage in meaningfulscholarship that is of personal interest, and provides a public service to the State. APLAagreed to participate fully in the study and cover the relatively moderate costs of makingthe findings and report available to the public.In 2002, the Moore School of Business produced a report, The Economic Impactof the Cultural Industry on the State of South Carolina(http://research.moore.sc.edu/Research/studies/CulturalInd/cult2002.pdf). While librarieswere mentioned as having a positive role to play, their inclusion in the report wasminimal, and it offered limited evidence to describe the specific economic benefits orimpact that public libraries offer the people of South Carolina.Jim Brazell of the Moore School of Business, Small Business DevelopmentCenter (SBDC) says that about 28,000 small businesses start up each year in SC, but onlyabout 3-4,000 actually use the services of the SBDC. They push the use of libraries, butdo not have any data to demonstrate actual or perceived value of the public libraries forsmall businesses. One of the purposes of this study was to gather information that laterSouth Carolina Public Library Economic Impact Study 6