Valuing Ontario Libraries Toolkit Highlights Impact Huron County Library Services Have On Community
by Bob Montgomery
Public libraries are critical cultural and social infrastructure for the communities they serve and new findings released from the Valuing Ontario Libraries Toolkit show that every dollar invested in the Huron County Library generates $4.66 in social return on investment.
Huron County's Librarian and Director of Cultural Services Beth Rumble says that toolkit was developed by the Ontario Library Service in collaboration with the NORDIK Institute, which is based out of Algoma University, to help Ontario libraries measure their value and impact within their communities. The toolkit specifically measured the social return on investment of library services on education, culture, inclusion and well-being, entertainment and leisure, economic development, civic engagement, and space. Libraries across the province are currently going through the process and using the new Toolkit. Rumble says it demonstrates specifically the benefits of Huron County Libraries to our local communities.
Libraries are integral for building personal, entrepreneurial and social capacity through access to information, programs and opportunities for community engagement. “The overall benefit to the community is about seventeen and a half million dollars.” That can be broken up among seven different dimensions to demonstrate specifically the value of inclusion and well-being, and the benefit with respect to spaces that libraries provide as well.
Rumble says the information provided by the Valuing Ontario Libraries Toolkit will help them communicate more broadly about the benefits of having a library. “We have a very supportive community that does understand how libraries contribute to their communities and this is another tool to make that case and communicate why libraries are important to their communities.”
For more information about the Huron County Library and the full results of the Social Return on Investment of library services, visit https://www.huroncountylibrary.ca/
