The Library's Contribution To Your Community

Case Study in the Brantford Public Library

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SOLS CONSULTANTS: Margaret Scratch, Hélène Golden

DATE COMPLETED: May 26, 1999

1. PURPOSE

"The Library’s Contribution to Your Community: a resource Manual for Libraries to Document their Social and Economic Contribution to the Local Community" was developed under the auspices of the Strategic Directions Council and the Southern Ontario Library Service by a Steering Committee representing the Ontario public library community. The basic premise of the manual is that libraries which are able to document and communicate the value of their contribution to the community are better placed to receive adequate and stable municipal funding.

 The Brantford Public Library used "The Library’s Contribution to Your Community" in order to document the contribution it makes to the success of local business enterprises and to communicate that value to Brantford City Council and to the Brantford business community.

2. BACKGROUND:

The community has experienced an economic downturn and low growth rate in recent years, with particularly dramatic effects on the downtown core of the city. A renovated library is one of the most active spots in the city centre. Attraction of new economic development to the community is a municipal priority.

Local per capita support for the library is slightly lower than the median for the size range and a smaller proportion of municipal expenditures goes to the library than the median for this size of community. Nevertheless, the library is a recognized resource within the city. A close relationship with the municipal Economic Development Department has led to discussions aimed at relocating the municipal Business Self-Help Office in the public library, in an effort to create easy access to information on operating a business in Brantford.

3. THE STUDY

.1 Profile of the Library’s Services

• The Brantford Public Library serves a resident population of 82,000 and a contract population of about 7,000 from a main library and one small branch.
• Citizen support for the library is high, as demonstrated in a community survey conducted in 1997.
• The library plays an important role both municipally and in the public library community in making use of new information technologies. BPL participates in Network 2000, has HRDC on-line employment information in the library, provides support for the Brant Freenet, and the CEO participated on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Smart Communities.
• The library has targeted services to business as a priority and has built both collections and staff expertise in support of this service.

.2 Focus for the Investigation

The Brantford Public Library chose to investigate the following 3 benefits as those most applicable to demonstrating the library’s contribution to the success of local business:

• Information Services to Local Business
• New Business Development
• Satisfaction With the Community as a Place to Live

.3 Community Resources

The following existing resources and organizations were or will be used at various points in the project:

• Brantford Economic Development Office reviewed the proposal for the study
• Chamber of Commerce data was reviewed and assistance was called on to select key informants and focus group participants
• a local radio station will be called on to assist with communicating the results of the study
• the Brantford newspaper’s weekly column on library affairs will also be used to communicate results to the public

.4 The Scope of the Investigation

• Relevant data from the 1997 community survey conducted by the Brantford Public Library furnished comments on the place of the library in making Brantford a desirable community in which to live.
• The Library supplied statistics on business related holdings, the estimated value of these holdings, circulation figures for business related materials, and the number of program hours relevant to business users.
• Two focus groups were conducted, one of individuals operating businesses from their homes and one of users from established businesses in Brantford.
• Two key informant interviews were conducted with senior staff of the City of Brantford; two with local real estate brokers and one with a marketing and communications consultant.
• The library decided not to do a survey of business users and non-users as information on the impact of library use on individual business users was deemed more relevant than statistical data on business use.

.5 Making the Case

Key Findings:

• established companies are less likely to find the public library’s business information important to their operations than new, small and home-based businesses
• individuals investigating starting a business rely on the public library’s assistance as absolutely vital to their success
• all business users found the service offered by the library to be helpful

.5.2 New Business Development

Key Findings:

• new business  entrepreneurs rely heavily on the information resources and expertise of the library to assist them in preparing business plans
• locating the Business Self Help Centre in the library will be welcomed as a way to make its assistance more accessible

5.3 Satisfaction with the Community as a Place to Live

Key Findings:

• the existence of a good public library is especially important to parents of young children

• the library’s presence in an eroded downtown core is seen as valuable and offering some hope for re-vitalization of the area

• the library’s role in supporting the Brant Freenet and its community information potential is highly valued

SATISFACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY AS A PLACE TO LIVE
Information required	Source	Findings
research demonstrating the importance of the library as a contributor to residential satisfaction	community survey Chatelaine Magazine, Vol.67, No.4, April, 1994: 49-55	existence of good public library services ranks 8th among characteristics of a desirable community in which to live
perceived contribution of the library to satisfaction with the community	focus groups key informant interviews	mothers of young children particularly value the contribution of good library services to child-rearing the library’s continued presence in a "disaster" downtown is valued library’s role in supporting the Brant Freenet is vital Brantford would be a much poorer community without the library

.6 Report to the Library

A full report including all the findings, write ups of focus groups and key informant interviews and suggestions for communicating the results to the target audiences was presented to the library board.

.7 COMMUNICATING THE RESULTS

The Brantford Public Library had targeted municipal council and the Brantford business community to receive the results of the study. The library chose to focus on the actual experience of business users as a more credible way to reach other businesses. A local radio station and the local newspaper will be used to make known the ways in which the library contributes to the business life of Brantford. A short visual presentation was suggested for use with council and with the local Chamber of Commerce.

Extending some of the services offered to the business community in order to better communicate the availability of business resources was suggested Suggestions included:

• more and more specifically focused programs and tours for business users
• a business page on the library’s web site
• advertised hours when a business specialist is on duty.

4. OBSERVATIONS

.1 Time Committed to the Project

Steps	Responsibility	Hours
1. Profile Library	Library/SOLS	3
2. Select Focus	Library	1
3. Identify Resources	Library	3
4. Identify Scope	Library / SOLS	5
5. Make the Case
.1 Assemble Library data circulation data holdings data use of materials	Library	2 2 2
.2 Conduct Key Informant Interviews identify participants conduct interviews	Library SOLS	8 4
.3 Document results determine format for presentation write up results	Library/SOLS SOLS	1 7
6. Communicate Results prepare communication plan communicate results	Library / SOLS Library	2 ongoing
7. Write up Case Study Report	SOLS	3

.2 Observations by SOLS Consultants

• Some of the specific data suggested by "The Library’s Contribution to Your Community" was of less interest to the Brantford Public Library and was not gathered. No surveys or sampling of business use or users were carried out.

• The library was focused very specifically on the services it wanted to document and the target audience. This made it easy to choose those benefits that would be relevant and to identify exactly what pieces of information would be useful.

• Focus group participants and key informants to be interviewed were relatively easy for the library to identify, but the participation rate was lower than optimal, despite very careful preparations on the part of the library.

.3 Library’s Observations

• "BPL found the study most worthwhile in developing the documentation, case studies, and quotable comments that would most effectively advance our communication to both our municipal council and our local businesses."

• "We are developing a new strategic plan at the moment, so the whole process has been well timed for that purpose as well."

• "We will be integrating the recommendations into the way we do business."

• "The Board is looking forward to presenting the data to Council."

• "It also strikes me that this report is ...a ‘waveable document’ - a demonstrable piece of evidence that a library system is right on the job, well informed, planful, in command of things..."

5. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

.1 On the study methods, how SOLS could assist your library in conducting a study or "The Library’s Contribution to Your Community", contact the Director of Library Development, Southern Ontario Library Service:

Email:
Telephone:	416-961-1669 (press 0), 1-800-387-5765
Fax:
SOLS Route/Mailing:

.2 On the Brantford Public Library or a copy of the full report on the study

Wendy Newman, CEO, Brantford Public Library, 519-756-2223 or wnewman@brantford.library.on.ca