Correlations between the economy and public library use

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between different aspects of public library use with elements of economic growth and development. Design/methodology/approach – Statistical correlations were performed to uncover statistically significant relationships. Findings – Relationships are not uniform: strongly positive relationships exist between education and visits, circulation and library programmes, savings and visits and circulation and programmes, and a strongly negative relationship exists between health and circulation. Research limitations/implications – Only one proxy variable for each of the economic development indicators was used, including the fact that others might have revealed other information. Social implications – The revealed relationships should be kept in mind by librarians and policymakers as decisions to change library services that might trickle down to citizens through economic growth and development. Originality/value – This paper brings together a variety of economic growth and development factors and several aspects of public library use in a single framework.