International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
[ Article ]
International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology - Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.67-100
ISSN: 2234-0068 (Print) 2287-187X (Online)
Print publication date 30 Jun 2018
Received 04 May 2018 Revised 24 May 2018 Accepted 01 Jun 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5865/IJKCT.2018.8.2.067

A Study on Comparing the Perception between Librarians and Users about Libraries’ Value

Younghee Noh* ; Kwang Hee Lee** ; Sang‐Ki Choi***
*Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Konkuk University, Korea irs4u@kku.ac.kr
**Program officer(PO), the Division of Culture & Convergence, the National Research Foundation of Korea thomas@nrf.re.kr
***Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Chonbuk National University, Korea choisk@jbnu.ac.kr

Abstract

This study comprehensively draws a conclusion using factors of economic, social, and educational value and performed a survey on librarians and users to compare and analyze the difference in perception between the two groups. The result are as follows: First, Libraries had the social value not only on research and personal learning but also on establishment and vitalization of communities, provision of opportunities to share ideas between local residents and create something new, and provision of recreation to improve the residents’ capability. Second, both groups evaluated the libraries’ educational role and function relatively highly. In particular, the librarians scored very high for the items that the libraries’ educational role was expanding, the libraries were a part of the educational system, and the libraries’ value on reading and literacy was great, and the users thought that libraries had an value because they were a part of education and the educational system. Third, economic value part also obtained relatively lower scores than other values; the mean of the librarian group was 3.46 and the user group was 3.43. Among the economic values, the librarian group scored the highest for the area of economic value for local communities, and the greatest scores were given to manpower development by the users.

Keywords:

Libraries’ Value, Social Value, Educational Value, Economic Value, Libraries’ Value, Users’ Perception

1. Introduction

It is almost needless to reiterate how great value libraries have on this society. Libraries satisfy residents’ desires to learn through lifelong education and support anyone’s access to all kinds of information resources and technologies for self‐development regardless of their financial conditions.

Local residents may prepare for their first or second job or opening a business, or they may become writers through continuous studying in libraries. Plenty of resources are shared in the libraries. Also, the libraries save earth’s resources and contribute to maintenance of the environment through sharing.

Libraries are evaluated to have high economic value. Providing information to companies and local communities in need, the libraries are considered to give help to local business development, increase income of stores around the libraries, and have a positive effect on creating jobs. Furthermore, many researchers around the world have verified that ROI (Return On Investment), calculated based on all kinds of resources, programs, and services of libraries for local residents, has been significantly high.

Libraries are indicated to have high social value. They are directly helpful for developing relations between parents and their children, and they contribute to health improvement through providing health and well‐being information to local residents and to the equalization of this information.

Libraries are indicated to have high educational value. Particularly, public libraries enable preschoolers to participate in all kinds of programs for increasing their adaptability, literacy, and reading ability. According to the result of a research, the level of literacy and educational achievement of students living in areas where the libraries are located is higher than for students living in areas where no libraries are located.

Likewise, the value of libraries on the nation and local communities is found to be very high. Nevertheless, the reason for re‐emphasizing the impacts and values of libraries on this society is that the value of specialized libraries such as college libraries is devalued to librarians in the field. Furthermore, the results of studies up to now contain evaluation of economic and educational values in depth but without the comprehensive value of libraries.

Thus, this study comprehensively draws a conclusion using factors of economic, social, and educational value and performed a survey on librarians and users to compare and analyze the difference in perception between the two groups. The result of this study will encourage librarians in the field of libraries and enable students and general users to value the existence of libraries more highly and to invigorate their use of libraries.


2. Literature Review

There have been considerable studies performed in domestic and foreign countries over a period of time measuring the value of libraries. As the effect of libraries in relation to investment cannot be directly calculated, their political, economic, social, and cultural values based on issues like the users’ perceptions should be determined. First, for a study related to service and use values of libraries, Chung (2005) suggested a new approach to estimate economic value of special libraries’ major services as a need for estimating the economic value of special libraries operated by such as companies or institutes was raised. Through feasibility assessment for theories and models of previous researches, benefit measurement elements and analysis methods applicable to this study were drawn, and universal validity and applicability were the standards for conformity assessment. The measurement elements and methodologies were applied differently according to the types of resources (material or human resources) used in the services, and accordingly formulas were suggested to evaluate the values of major services provided by special libraries. As the analysis model was developed to evaluate the economic value of special libraries’ services and to enable a way to objectively prove the value of the services, it was considered to raise the awareness of the true value of special libraries.

Pyo (2006) analyzed the value of public libraries by applying consumer’s surplus and conditional value‐estimating methods. Furthermore, the economic value of public libraries directly having an effect on a person was estimated by those using it, with 84% of users responding that the public libraries had an effect on their personal lives. They tended to pay 8,270 won per a month for a person to use the libraries. To borrow a book, they tended to pay 1,470 won per book. The economic value of all libraries accordingly was estimated by 1/3 times and the economic value of each service for lending books was estimated by 3 times, showing a significant difference according to targets of estimation.

Pyo and Chung (2008) estimated the use value of public libraries by four approaches of time value, surplus value of alternative service, service value of the library, and integrated value of the library. The value estimated by time value in comparison with cost, which was the opportunity cost of users, was the highest with 11 times, but the value estimated by amount willing to pay was low at the rate of 0.3. The result of the estimation, factors having an effect on each value, and processes of estimation were integrated to suggest application methods for each value.

Ko and Shim (2011) indicated that the value of libraries and libraries’ services were traditionally agreed to be positive, and it was good to estimate the economic feasibility of the libraries’ value for specifying the value being shared between various persons concerned with the library. They comprehensively summarized and analyzed various theories and related estimation cases to prepare the groundwork of future studies. Thus, 18 domestic pieces of literature and 71 foreign pieces, a total of 89, were extracted to be summarized, compared, and analyzed. Furthermore, general issues related to quantification of the value of libraries were reviewed and previous research on estimation of the economic feasibility of libraries were systematically analyzed and suggested. As a result, they indicated that similar studies were repeatedly found to be without methodologies and coherent application and this limited the scope of comparing the results of evaluation and applying the results of these studies.

Pyo, Ko, and Shim (2011) analyzed factors having an effect on the use value of public libraries. They tried to understand the impact of various factors such as characteristics of respondents and libraries, using an estimation method of CVM (Contingent Valuation Method) that set values according to statements of users. Thus, they analyzed effective factors drawn from studies estimating the value of domestic and foreign public libraries and understood the characteristics of effective factors. The factors having the greatest impact on the amount people were willing to pay, which showed the value of libraries, were categorized as demographic characteristics such as gender, income, and age of users, as well as use pattern such as use frequency and visiting hours. Factors such as satisfaction of librarians, fields of interaction for residents, degree of economic support, and support for culture and art had an effect on satisfaction and perception for three types of services: information, facility, and programming. This study comprehensively analyzed the impact that was estimated for all kinds of domestic public libraries to provide information regarding the attribute of value that was evaluated by users according to area and scale.

Furthermore, Chung and Chung (2008) suggested DM and IBM formats as the alternative of CVM, which had been used to analyze the economic value of cultural programs, to estimate the economic value of cultural programs. Also, they explained the detail of processes through analyzing cases to which public libraries could apply the model. The study was meaningful to create a basic frame for accurately estimating the value of public libraries by maximally reducing the bias of CVM.

Regarding the investment value of establishing a database and providing copy service of original text, Ryu and Lee (2006) intended to estimate the economic value of an original information service to determine whether it was valuable to invest a lot of money to establish a database of libraries. Conditional value‐estimating methods were applied to estimate the economic value, and virtual scenarios were designed to estimate the value of an original information service of domestic books, which was a non‐commodity. A Double‐Bounded Dichotomous Choice was selected to perform a pre‐survey review with experts to suggest questions, increasing the reliability of the questions. As a result,, the use value, per person, for users of the original information service of domestic books was estimated at 836 won per book, and the non‐use value was estimated at 236 won per year. The annual economic value to all university students were estimated at 83.18 billion won.

Choi and Park (2008) tried to estimate the economic value of the original information service at K university library, which was selected as a model support center for foreign academic journals. Bass Diffusion Model, which was used for estimating the demands of new products and new services, was applied to this study. A survey was performed for 11 days from Sep. 10, 2007 to Sep. 20, 2007. The results for estimating the useful economic value exceeded 2 billion won by a little in 2015, and the value that people were willing to pay fell short of 2 billion won by a little. The analysis of economic value of the support center for foreign academic journals was limited to the copy service of original text, and thus the analysis methods were limited to the use value and the value that people were willing to pay.

Moreover, as a study discussing the methods of estimating the economic value, Chung and Chung (2007) sought a new approach to estimate the value of public libraries. They pointed out the limit of CVM, which had been used, and suggested CVM applied by Dissonance Minimizing (DM) format as the alternative to improve it. As the tool of estimating the value, cost‐benefit analysis was used; the total cost invested in the service was applied to the cost and the amount that users were willing to pay for the service was applied to the benefit. They analyzed cases to estimate the value of ‘J public library’ and showed how the DM format was utilized to estimate the value.

Chung et al. (2009) collected and summarized 42 previous domestic and foreign pieces of literature, which empirically estimated the economic value of libraries, and intended to explain the way of interpreting different ROI and the cost‐benefit ratio through statistical method of meta‐analysis. The meta‐analytic method was applied to analyze the figures of related studies to estimate the economic value of libraries and comprehensively and objectively summarize the results. Six variables (investigation period, library type, research method, scope of benefit, scope of service, and GDP per a person) were set according to related studies and six hypotheses were conceived. As a result of meta‐regression analysis, ROI could be coherently estimated according to the scope of benefit (direct and indirect effects) and GDP per person.

Shim (2010) generally reviewed theoretical and practical perspectives of studies’ general issues introduced to the domestic country to estimate the economic value of libraries’ services. In particular, he pointed out how choice of each method of estimation had an effect on the results of studies through recent domestic cases related to specific estimation and showed that more reliable and feasible design of future studies were demanded. To be specific, difficulties were found in choosing target services for estimation, applying conditional value‐estimating methods, estimating monetary value compared to time, processing ideal points, applying the alternative, and making estimations in relation to using assumptions. Particularly, the study emphasized that the figures of ROI and cost‐benefit ratio, which were the representative final indicators, were very variable according to the methods of estimation. Therefore, he insisted that qualitative data should have been partly collected in addition to the quantitative data, to supplement it and understand the use value of service to the specific.

Ko, Pyo, and Shim (2012) analyzed the adequacy of various estimation elements, which should be considered in the process of estimating the value of university libraries, and methodologies applied to the estimation, and investigated the application possibility to domestic university libraries in the future. Thus, they selected two university libraries and estimated the services of one library as to lending, electronic scholarly information, reference service, user education, and space through CVM and the value of electronic scholarly service provided by the other library through three methods of time value, value of alternative service, and CVM. And based on the analysis of estimation elements, processes, and the result of the estimations, they suggested matters to be considered for reliable estimation of values of university libraries in the future on the aspects of purpose of estimation, estimation service, user, and calculation of BC ratio.

To prove the value of libraries, most domestic countries have estimated their economic value. First of all, a meta‐analytic study was performed to estimate the economic value of libraries (Jeong, Go, Shim, & Pyo, 2009). In this study, 6 variables (investigation period, library type, research method, scope of benefit, scope of service, and GDP per a person) were set according to related studies and 6 hypotheses were conceived. As the result of the study, ROI could be coherently estimated according to the scope of benefit (direct and indirect effects) and GDP per person. In the same context, Shim (2010) generally reviewed theoretical and practical perspectives of studies’ general issues introduced to the domestic country to estimate the economic value of libraries’ services. As the result of the study difficulties were found in choosing target services for estimation, applying conditional value‐estimating methods, estimating monetary value compared to time, processing ideal points, applying the alternative, and making estimations in relation with using assumptions. As the figures of ROI and cost‐benefit ratio were very variable according to the methods of estimation, qualitative data should have been partly collected to supplement it.

Afterwards, as a study for estimating public libraries’ value that was the target of estimating libraries’ economic value, Pyo (2009) measured the utility value of public libraries according to three means of payment such as tax, contributions, and fees using CVM (Contingent Valuation Methods) mostly for estimating the value of libraries. As a finding of this estimation, the individuals were willing to donate ₩14,542.3 Won per month, showing the highest value, and pay taxes of ₩8,577.5 Won. They were also willing to pay a fee of ₩1,612.7 per day as the lowest cost, but it was similar to the monthly taxes when it was calculated for a month. Researchers (Pyo, Go, & Shim, 2010) analyzed factors having an effect on the utility value of public libraries to understand the value of various factors such as characteristics of respondents and libraries, using an estimation method of CVM (Contingent Valuation Method) that set values according to statements of users. The results of the study were that the factors having the greatest value on the amount people were willing to pay, which showed the value of libraries, were categorized as demographic characteristics such as gender, income, and age of users and use pattern such as use frequency and visiting hours. Factors such as satisfaction of librarians, fields of interaction for residents, degree of economic support, and perception of supporters for culture and art had an effect on satisfaction and perception according to three types of services such as information, facility, and program. This study was meaningful to analyze comprehensively the impact on value that was estimated for all kinds of public libraries in the domestic country.

Meanwhile, more studies were actively performed for measuring the value of libraries in foreign countries; the ALA (American Library Association) analyzed and provided research materials related to the value of libraries on the local economy and the local community. In other words, according to the comprehensive analysis of the result, libraries had economic, social, and educational values, and the value was proven through surveys to residents for their perception and literature analysis. Target countries such as the U.S., Canada, and Korea were widely included in the study, and the result showed that the libraries had a very wide value on such things as creation of communities, contribution to recreation, health improvement, democratization, and research, literacy, and improvement of local economic value. Table 1 shows the list of studies with comprehensive summary.

Studies on Libraries’ Value


3. Research Questions

Many studies evaluated that economic, social, cultural, and educational effects of libraries were high; however, there was a need to figure out other factors such as whether the users had the same opinion of the value and how the librarians evaluated the libraries themselves. Also, the differences between both groups needed to be figured out. Thus, this study suggested the following questions:

  • ∙ RQ 1: How do librarians and users evaluate the social value of libraries? Is there a difference in perception between both groups?
  • ∙ RQ 2: How do librarians and users evaluate the educational value of libraries? Is there a difference in perception between both groups?
  • ∙ RQ 3: How do librarians and users evaluate the economic value of libraries? Is there a difference in perception between both groups?

This study developed a survey according to the research questions and accepted opinions from persons concerned with libraries to figure out their perception of the value of libraries.


4. Research Design and Methodology

4.1 Research Procedure

The goal of this study was to evaluate the value of libraries on the society. Studies on libraries’ value were initially comprehensively collected to evaluate the libraries’ value and then factors referred to in each study were determined in relation to the value. Accordingly, a survey was developed and administered for librarians and users (students and public) to investigate their perception of the libraries’ value as well as to compare and analyze the difference in perception between the groups. The details of the research procedure were as follows:

First, literature relevant to the libraries’ value was comprehensively analyzed to draw out the factors of libraries’ value accordingly.

Second, a survey was developed to investigate the perception of libraries’ value and the target of the survey was selected to perform online and offline surveys.

Third, the differences in perception between groups of librarians and the user group were compared, and further methods to expand the libraries’ value were discussed.

4.2 Survey Design for Evaluation of Libraries’ Value

ALA intensively collected the results of studies on libraries’ values perceived by local residents and persons concerned, and the economic value, social value, and education value of libraries were individually evaluated. ALA indicated that libraries provided various lectures and information resources to have an value on manpower development and local economy development. Also, libraries were open to all of the local residents and the libraries supported them to maintain creative lives, making an value on community development. Furthermore, they provided various kinds of educational programs, playing a key role in enhancing early education and increasing the literacy of local residents.

This study roughly analyzed the ALA list and structuralized the core contents to develop the survey, categorizing the libraries’ values as social, economic, and educational in this study.

The social value of libraries was divided again by 14 areas and a total of 64 questions were developed. The educational value of libraries was divided by 6 areas and a total of 26 questions were developed, and the economic value of libraries was divided by 5 areas and a total of 37 questions were developed. The details were as follows:

Contents and Questions of Survey

4.3 Target and Method of Survey

To investigate the perception of libraries’ value, the users and the librarians were divided and grouped. There were several types of libraries such as school, university, public, and specialized, but the target librarians for the survey belonged to public and university libraries covering a relatively wide range of service targets. The target users were the student users of university libraries to which the librarians, who participated in this survey, belonged and the users of public libraries to which the librarians, who responded to this survey, belonged.

Furthermore, in some cases, researchers directly met with the users of target libraries to perform an offline survey, and in some other cases, if librarians willingly cooperated, the librarians directly administered the survey to their users.

For convenience, online and offline surveys were performed at the same time. The surveys were distributed to 40 public libraries and 40 university libraries and to a total of 150 librarians and 400 users, which were 2 librarians and 5 users at each library. For the librarians, 114 of 160 copies were returned, representing a 71.3% return rate; for the users, 295 of 400 copies were returned, representing a 73.8% return rate.


5. Result

5.1 Demographic Characteristics

The targets of the survey were divided as librarians and users. As a result of analyzing demographic characteristics of the librarians, 14.3% were male and 85.7% were female; those in their 30s were the highest at 42.0%, followed in order by those in their 40s at 27.7%, 20s at 21.4%, and 50s at 8.9%. For the employment history, less than 5 years was the highest at 44.6%, followed by 5 ~ 10 years at 20.5%, and 15 ~ 20 years at 12.5%. For the type of library at which the librarians who responded worked, the public library represented 56.3% and the university library represented 43.8%. For the collection size of the library, more than 200,000 books was the highest at 44.6%, with 10,000 ~ 50,000 books at 23.2%, and 50,000 ~ 100,000 books at 14.3%.

Demographic Characteristics of Librarians

An analysis of the demographic characteristics of the users found that of the total of 278 respondents 32.4% were male and 67.6% were female. For the age of users, 20s was the highest at 55.4%, followed by 40s at 17.6%, 30s at 15.8%, 50s at 8.3%, and 10s at 2.9%. As to the status, students made up 48.6% and the public 51.4%.

Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

5.2 Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Social value

In the survey, there were 14 areas and a total of 64uestions for the difference in perception related to libraries’ social value, and the result of analysis in detail was as follows: significant differences in perception were shown between the groups in 8 items; in 13 of 14 items the librarian group responded for the libraries’ social value higher than the user group (Librarian 3.67 > User 3.47); the user group responded for the libraries’ social value higher than the librarian group only in the area of contribution to research and personal learning.

This study investigated the perception of social value shown in subordinate items of each area referred to above and compared the difference between groups; the result of analysis in detail was as follows:

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Social Value between Groups

5.2.1 Contribution to Building Strong and Energetic Communities

The difference in perception related to the item of contribution to building strong and energetic communities was compared between groups; 2 of 5 items showed significant difference in perception, and the mean of the librarian group was higher than the user group. First, in the item of ‘libraries help to improve relations between parents and their children’, the mean of the librarian group was higher with 3.81 against 3.41 for the user group. In the item of ‘libraries provide space for parents to actively participate in literacy development of their children’, the mean of the librarian group was also higher with 3.88 against 3.55 for the users. The item that both groups highly considered the social value of libraries was ‘mostly people consider it important that libraries should be located in all areas’, scoring 4.17 for both groups.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Building Strong and Energetic Communities (Local Communities) between Groups

5.2.2 Contribution to Connecting Human and Ideas

Whether libraries contributed to connecting humans and ideas was compared to figure out the difference in perception between groups. Items were divided by a total of 4 areas, and none of questions showed significant differences in perception, but the librarians tended to agree more than the users in all of the questions (Mean Comparison: Librarian 3.49 > User 3.37).

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Connecting Humans and Ideas between Groups

5.2.3 Contribution to Creating and Strengthening Local Communities

Whether libraries contributed to creating and strengthening local communities was compared to figure out the difference in perception between groups on a total of 5 items, and only 3 items showed significant difference in perception between groups. The librarians tended to think that libraries contributed to creating and strengthening local communities more than the users in all of the subordinate items as well as in the mean score of 3.30 by the librarians and 3.09 by the users.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Creating and Strengthening Local Communities between Groups

5.2.4 Contribution to Developing Identities of Local Residents

The difference in perception with respect to contribution to developing identities of local residents between groups was compared. A total of 7 items were compared; only 2 items showed significant difference in perception. The mean of the librarian group was 3.77 and the user group was 3.66, and comprehensively the scores of the librarians were higher than the users; the users considered that libraries contributed to education and played a key role in rebuilding the cities as areas of culture and art, and contributed to attracting tourists and knowledgeable workers and building high‐technology industries more than the librarians.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Developing Identities of Local Residents between Groups

5.2.5 Contribution to Strengthening Libraries’ Recreational Activities

Whether libraries contributed to strengthening local communities was compared to figure out the difference in perception between groups by a total of 6 items. While significant differences in perception between the groups were shown in 5 questions, both groups agreed with an item that libraries contributed to personal productivity and cultural participation. The librarians scored higher than the users for other items of contribution of libraries.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Strengthening Recreation between Groups

5.2.6 Contribution to Health Improvement of Local Residents

The difference in perception related to the area of contribution to health improvement of local residents was compared between groups by 2 items. In the results the librarians scored more significantly than the users in the aspect that users visited libraries to find medical and health information.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Health Improvement of Local Residents between Groups

5.2.7 Contribution to Equalization of Local Residents

The difference in perception related to the item of contribution to equalization of local residents by providing libraries’ service equally was compared between groups by 3 items. None of the questions showed any significant difference in perception, but the librarians agreed more than the users on all of the questions. Furthermore, both groups scored high for the libraries’ services contributing to personal development and professional development.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Equalization of Local Residents between Groups

5.2.8 Contribution to Providing Government Information

Whether libraries played a role of providing government information was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 4 items. None of the questions showed significant difference in perception, but the librarians agreed more than the users on all of the questions. Furthermore, both groups scored high in the aspect that ‘public libraries are the most basic access to various governmental information regardless of users’ income.’

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Providing Government Information between Groups

5.2.9 Contribution to Ownership of Local Residents

The difference in perception related to the item of contribution to ownership of local residents was compared between the groups by 3 items. Only 2 items showed significant difference in perception; in particular, the greatest difference of the librarians and the users’ perception was shown in the aspect that libraries provided a place that was safe and became the important center of life in the area. Both groups showed great consistency for the item that people preferred to have libraries close to their houses.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Ownership of Local Residents between Groups

5.2.10 Contribution to Adaption of Immigrants to New Environment

The difference in perception related to the item of libraries’ contribution to adaption of immigrants to new environment was compared between groups. While a total of 3 items were compared, there were only 2 questions that showed significant difference in perception. First of all, the librarians scored higher with 3.63 against the users’ 3.36 for the item that ‘library is a very important organization to make multi‐cultural family adapt to local communities and new society’; the value of p was .009, showing significant difference between the groups. The librarians scored higher with 3.63 than the users 3.42 for the item that ‘libraries play a key role in the aspect of improving literacy, learning language, supporting all kinds of exams, and providing resources to have economic confidence for multi‐cultural families; the value of p was .048 which showed a significant difference between the groups.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Adaption of Immigrants to New Environment between Groups

5.2.11 Contribution to Expansion of Libraries’ Social Roles

The difference in perception related to the item of libraries’ contribution to expansion of libraries’ social roles was compared between the groups by a total of 6 items. Two items showed a significant difference in perception; the librarians scored very high for the item that libraries improved the quality of life and deserved to pay taxes and that the users thought that libraries became more important than the past. The users scored higher on the score of perception for the item that libraries provided opportunities to make the homeless adapt to the society.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Expansion of Libraries’ Social Roles between Groups

5.2.12 Contribution to Maintenance of Strong Democracy

Whether libraries contributed to the maintenance of a strong democracy was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups, and both items showed a significant difference in perception. Both the librarians and the users agreed more than the mean of the items that libraries supported the democratic tendency of society and provided access of users to libraries regardless of their status.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Maintenance of Strong Democracy between Groups

5.2.13 Contribution to Provision of Information to Local Communities in Need

Whether libraries contributed to providing information to local communities in need was compared to figure out the difference in perception between groups by 2 items. For the item that libraries supported the democratic tendency of society, the librarians scored significantly higher at 4.21 against the users’ 4.03,. The means of both groups were over 4 points, indicating that the contribution of libraries was highly considered for provision of information to local communities in need.

difference in perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Providing Information to Local Communities In Need between Groups

5.2.14 Contribution to Research and Personal Learning

The difference in perception related to the item of contribution to research and personal learning was compared between the groups by 7 items; only 1 question showed significant difference in perception. The librarians rated considerably high for the item that collections of libraries supported academic activities. In the general area the users scored higher than the librarians; the mean of the librarian group was 3.99 and the users scored slightly higher at 4.00.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Research and Personal Learning between Groups

5.3 Libraries’ Educational and Literacy Value

The difference in perception of libraries’ educational and literacy value was compared by 6areas and a total of 26uestions, and the result of analysis in detail was as follows: first of all, there were 4 of 5 items showing significant difference in perception between the groups, and the librarian group valued the libraries’ educational value highly, scoring higher than the user group in all of the items; the mean of librarian group was 3.98 and user group was 3.71. Only on the difference in perception between groups for the item that ‘libraries contributed to improving the quality of education’ was the difference not significant, as the librarians scored 3.81 and the users scored 3.73 for the libraries’ educational value.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Value on Education and Literacy between Groups

5.3.1 Contribution to Early Literacy and Education

The difference in perception related to the item of contribution to early literacy and education was compared between groups by 6 items, and 2 questions showed significant difference in perception. The librarians scored higher than the users for the items that ‘public libraries have a great effect on children’s literacy and education by providing education for their parents’ and ‘libraries’ programs for preschoolers and reading programs during summer vacation are good for improving children’s reading ability.’ The mean of the librarian group was higher at 3.81 than the users’ 3.67.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Early Literacy and Education between Groups

5.3.2 Contribution to Expansion of Educational Role

The difference in perception related to the item of expansion of the educational role was compared between the groups by 5 items. The librarians scored significantly higher than the users in all of the items. The users valued the item that ‘school libraries’ programs were positively related to reading scores’ relatively highly.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Expansion of Educational Role between Groups(unit: %)

5.3.3 Perception Related to Whether Libraries are an Essential Element for Education and Education System

Whether libraries were an essential element for education and the education system was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 4 items; there was 1 question that showed a significant difference in perception. The librarians scored higher at 3.97 than the users’ 3.79 for the item that ‘libraries enhanced local residents to participate in social life using libraries’ internet, computer, and all kinds of electric data’. As shown in the mean of the librarian group at 4.12 and the user group at 4.00, both groups scored high for the libraries’ value on this item.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Essential Element for Education and Education System between Groups

5.3.4 Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Value on Reading and Literacy between Groups

The difference in perception related to libraries’ value on reading and literacy was compared between groups by 9 items, and only 1 item that ‘libraries contribute to teenagers’ critical literacy’ showed no significant difference between the groups. This was the only item where the users scored higher than the librarians.

In the item that ‘libraries’ reading programs make children spend more time with books and have a positive effect on improving reading achievement,’ the librarians scored the highest at 4.19 and the users scored 3.91.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Value on Reading and Literacy between Groups

5.3.5 Contribution to Improving the Quality of School Education

Whether libraries contributed to improving the quality of school education was compared to figure out the difference in perception between groups by 2 items, and there was 1 question that showed a significant difference in perception. The librarians scored higher at 3.99 than the users who scored 3.64 for the item that ‘schools having qualified and trained librarian teachers show higher academic achievement of students.’ The mean of the librarian group was 3.93 and the user group was 3.70.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Improving the Quality of School Education between Groups

5.4 Libraries’ Economic Value

The difference in perception of libraries’ economic value was compared by 5 areas and a total of 37uestions, and there were no items that showed a significant difference between the groups. The librarians and the users scored lower for the libraries’ economic value than other values. The users scored higher on 2 items of the libraries’ economic value, which was ‘contribution to local business development’ and ‘manpower development.’

Difference in Perception of Libraries’ Value on Economy between Groups

5.4.1 Contribution to Local Business Development

Whether libraries contributed to local business development was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 4 items. None of the questions showed significant difference between the groups, but the users scored higher than the librarians on all of items. The mean of the librarian group was 3.15 and the user group was 3.29, showing a difference.

Difference in Perception Related to Local Business Development between Groups

5.4.2 Libraries’ Economic Value

Whether libraries added an economic value to local communities was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 9 items, and there was 1 question that showed significant difference. The users scored significantly higher at 3.63 than the librarians’ 3.58 for the item that ‘libraries increase the values of house, neighborhood, and home environment. House prices around libraries are more expensive than the areas without libraries. The users scored higher than the librarians on 4 items indicating libraries’ economic performance was good, and that libraries’ social return rate was higher than ROI, libraries were helpful for the local economy, and the establishment of libraries contributed to increasing income of surrounding companies and promoting the local economy.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Economic Value of Local Communities between Groups

5.4.3 Libraries’ Contribution to Creating Jobs

Whether libraries contributed to creating jobs was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 7 items, and none of the questions showed a significant difference. The librarians scored higher in most of the items, but the users scored higher at 3.47 than the librarians’ 3.41 for the item that ‘libraries contributed to creating jobs in a certain industry.’

Difference in Perception Related to Contribution to Creating Jobs between Groups

5.4.4 Libraries’ Contribution to ROI

Whether libraries’ ROI was high was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 15 items. There were 6 items that showed a significant difference, and the librarians score higher than the users in most of the items.

The users only scored higher than the librarians for the item that libraries’ economic activities created taxes and WTP (Willingness to Pay) became higher when the education level of users was high.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ ROI between Groups

5.4.5 Libraries’ Contribution to Manpower Development

Whether libraries contributed to manpower development was compared to figure out the difference in perception between the groups by 2 items. None of the questions showed a significant difference, but the librarians scored higher at 3.39 than the users who scored 3.42 for the item that’ libraries had a direct effect on searching for jobs.’

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Contribution to Manpower Development between Gro ups


6. Discussion and Future Research

6.1 Discussion

This study was to evaluate the libraries’ value based on perception of librarians and users. It compared the evaluation of the librarians and the users for the libraries’ value on educational, economic, and cultural values to find which areas were scored higher by the librarians and the users.

As discussed in Section 5, the librarians scored higher than the users in most of the items, indicating that they considered more of the libraries’ values and values. According to the result, libraries and librarians should redefine the libraries’ roles and improve its services to make users’ perceptions better. The difference in perception between both groups in detail was as follows:

First, the study was concerned with ‘how did the librarians and the users evaluate with respect to the libraries’ social value?’ and ‘was there a difference in perception between both groups?’ The mean of the librarian group was 3.67 and the user group was 3.47 for the libraries’ social value, indicating that the librarians valued the libraries’ social value more than the users. Furthermore, both groups scored high for contribution to research and personal learning as the librarians scored 4.10 and the users scored 4.20, and the users evaluated higher than the librarians only for the libraries’ social value. Libraries had the social value not only on research and personal learning but also on establishment and vitalization of communities, provision of opportunities to share ideas between local residents and create something new, and provision of recreation to improve the residents’ capability. Moreover, libraries can naturally play a role of letting immigrants adapt to a new local environment and make multi‐cultural families be absorbed in local communities. Both the librarians and the users scored higher than the mean on this item, but the means of both groups were relatively low for the item of contribution to providing health information to local residents and improving their health. In the U.S. libraries are stocked with books containing common information for the elderly and patients and support local residents or the elderly to manage their health in daily life by stocking books for well‐being and exercise. Libraries cannot treat their disease, but they can suggest how to manage their health and prevent them from having a disease. As an organization that is located the closest to the local residents, the role of the libraries in South Korea to improve the health of local residents should be strengthened.

Second, the study was concerned with ‘how did the librarians and the users evaluate with respect to the libraries’ educational value’ and ‘was there a difference in perception between both groups?’ The librarians scored higher than the users in all of items for the libraries’ educational value. The mean of the librarian group was higher at 3.98 than the users who scored 3.71, and it indicated that both groups evaluated the libraries’ educational role and function relatively highly. In particular, the librarians scored very high for the items that the libraries’ educational role was expanding, the libraries were a part of the educational system, and the libraries’ value on reading and literacy was great, and the users thought that libraries had an value because they were a part of education and the educational system. Both groups scored high without significant difference for the item that libraries improved the quality of school education.

Third, the study was concerned with ‘how did the librarians and the users evaluate with respect to the libraries’ economic value?’ and ‘was there a difference in perception between both groups?’ None of the items showed a significant difference in perception between the groups. This area also obtained relatively lower scores than other values; the mean of the librarian group was 3.46 and the user group was 3.43. Among the economic values, the librarian group scored the highest for the area of economic value for local communities, and the greatest scores were given to manpower development by the users. For the users, finding various resources, preparing or studying for second jobs, or obtaining all kinds of employment information in libraries were positives..

As discussed above, the difference in perception of librarians according to types of libraries was investigated with respect to the libraries’ values, showing difference in perception between both groups; the librarians scored higher than the users for the libraries’ economic, educational, and social values. While it was important that the librarians’ evaluation for the libraries’ values were good, the evaluation of users, who were the beneficiaries, was more important for such items as the libraries’ services and usefulness of the libraries’ space. The libraries’ value for existence could be proven by identifying how the libraries’ space contributed to establishing and operating all kinds of communities of local residents, operating all kinds of activities for children, and preparing local residents for jobs, as well as how much the libraries obtained its value even if all kinds of research materials, learning materials, all kinds of living information, job information, etc. provided for free in libraries did not yield any physical achievement, and how all kinds of reading programs, cultural programs, all kinds of reference services, etc. provided by the libraries affected cultural and reading capability of local residents. It could be proven also by evaluating the users’ opinion in a right way.

The reason for evaluating the libraries’ values according to perception of librarians was that they developed and provided services for users with a certain goal, but the sensory level of users might be low. It inferred that users’ perception of libraries should be improved.

6.2 Suggestion of Future Research

This study comprehensively analyzed the domestic and foreign literatures related to the libraries’ values and values to investigate perception with respect to the libraries’ values and values through a developed survey of the perception of librarians and users according to the types of libraries.

This study developed the survey to investigate the perception of libraries’ value based on literature analysis. However, an index should be developed to evaluate the libraries’ values and values in application of methods such as literature analysis, expert discussion, Delphi survey for professionals, and survey for users to investigate their perception step by step. Additionally, the libraries’ value should be objectively evaluated based on a more verified systematic index of evaluation. Furthermore, it should be segmented by social, cultural, economic, and educational values to develop the index of evaluating the libraries’ impact. Each index of evaluation could be developed, and the detailed evaluation to the index could increase the accuracy of evaluation for each area.


7. Conclusion

The libraries’ values or values had been claimed by a number of researchers in the field of library and information science and libraries. With libraries, people had kept and distributed the world’s knowledge and the knowledge and wisdom of mankind had been developmentally passed down to the future generation, and libraries had supported the development of the society based on it. The role was expanded to provide local residents with cultural and reading activities in libraries, and they could perform various kinds of creative activities in the infinite imagination space to improve the quality of life. Libraries helped immigrants quickly adapt to the local communities and multi‐cultural families gain more understanding of Korean society.

There, however, was no research that comprehensively investigated items such as the libraries’ economic, social, and educational values. This study was undertaken to compare the perception of users and librarians regarding the values. This study indicated that most of the librarians more highly valued the libraries than the user group, but that users also valued the libraries more than the mean. In the future, more researches should be performed to evaluate the values and values of social organizations, considered as public properties including museum, and libraries.

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[ About the authors ]

Younghee Noh has an MA and a PhD in Library & Information Science from Yonsei University, Seoul. She has published more than 50 books, including 3 books awarded as Outstanding Academic Books by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Government) and more than 120 papers, including one selected as a Featured Article by the Informed Librarian Online in February 2012. She was listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World in 2012‐2016 and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering in 2016‐2017. She received research excellence awards from both Konkuk University (2009) and Konkuk University Alumni (2013) as well as recognition by “the award for Teaching Excellence” from Konkuk University in 2014. She received research excellence awards from ‘Korean Library and Information Science Society’ in 2014. One of the books she published in 2014, was selected as ‘Outstanding Academic Book’ by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2015. She received the Awards for Professional Excellence as Asia Library Leaders from Satija Research Foundation in Library and Information Science (India) in 2014. She has been a Chief Editor of World Research Journal of Library and Information Science in Mar 2013 ~ Feb 2016. Since 2004, she has been a Professor in the Department of Library & Information Science at Konkuk University, where sheteaches courses in Metadata, Digital Libraries, Processing of Internet Information Resources, and Digital Contents.

Kwang Hee Lee is currently working as a program officer(PO) in the Division of Culture & Convergence at the National Research Foundation of Korea. In this role, he coordinates grant committees and procedures for convergence research projects. He received his Ph.D. in Public Administration from Seoul National University in 2000. His research interests include R&D policies, e-government, and city and provincial policies.

Sang‐Ki Choi is a Professor at the Department of Library and Information Science, Chonbuk National University, Korea. He may be contacted at HYPERLINK “choisk@jbnu.ac.kr”

Table 1.

Studies on Libraries’ Value

Researches Code
Researches Code A Case Study of a Rural Iowa A Case Study of a Rural Iowa School Preparing to Meet New State Guidelines for School Libraries A-1
Achieving school readiness: Public libraries and national education goal no. 1 A-2
An Economic Valuation Study of Public Libraries in Korea A-3
Are they really ready to work?: Employers’ perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st century U.S. workforce A-4
Books, Babies, and Libraries: serving infants, toddlers, their parents & caregivers A-5
Change in School Librarian Staffing Linked with Change in CSAP Reading Performance, 2005 to 2011 A-6
Community impact and benefits A-7
Daniel Fujiwara Ricky Lawton Susana Mourato March 2015 A-8
Describing the economic impacts and benefits of Florida public libraries: Findings and methodological applications for future work A-9
Dividends: the value of public libraries in Canada A-10
Effective School Libraries: Evidence of Impact on Student Achievement A-11
Every child ready to read @ your library A-12
First Day of Class: The Public Library’s Role in “School Readiness” A-13
How do public libraries function as meeting places? A-14
Leisure Role of Public Libraries: User Views A-15
Libraries, churches, and schools: The literate lives of mothers and children in a homeless shelter A-16
Making cities stronger: public library contributions to local economic development A-17
Maryland’s Successful Campaign to Increase Library Funding A-18
Minnesota Public Libraries’ Return on Investment A-19
Opportunity for all: how the American public benefits from internet access at U.S. libraries A-20
Perceptions of libraries, 2010: context and community: a report to the OCLC membership A-21
Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study A-22
Preschool Story Time: Fun and Learning in the School Library A-23
Proof of the Power: Recent Research on the Impact of School Library Media Programs on the Academic Achievement of U.S. A-24
Public access computing and Internet access in public libraries: The role of public libraries in e‐government and emergency situations A-25
Role of Public Libraries in Children’s Literacy Development: An Evaluation Report A-26
School Librarians Rock! Librarians’ Powerful Impact on Literacy Development: Reflections of Teacher Candidates A-27
The economic and job creation benefits of Ontario public libraries A-28
The Economic Contribution of Wisconsin Public Libraries to the Economy of Wisconsin A-29
The Economic impact of public libraries on South Carolina a study prepared A-30
The economic value of the Free Library in Philadelphia A-31
The Link between Public Libraries and Early Reading Success A-32
The Public Place of Central Libraries: Findings from Toronto and Vancouver A-33
The Role of Public Libraries in Children’s Literacy Development: An Evaluation Report A-34
The Seattle Public Library central library: economic benefits assessment: the transformative power of a library to redefine learning, community, and economic development A-35
UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources: Summary Results of the Study Conducted Spring 2011 A-36
Users consider library services increasingly important A-37
Using the Contingent Valuation Method To Measure Patron Benefits of Reference Desk Service in an Academic Library. A-38
Value‐Oriented Factors A-39
What’s the Big Idea? Science and Math at the Library for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners A-40

Table 2.

Contents and Questions of Survey

Field of Investigation Detail Areas Source No. of Questions
Social Value of Libraries Libraries contribute to building strong and energetic communities. A‐16, A‐19, A‐33 5
Libraries help to connect human and ideas. A‐14, A‐19, A‐20, A‐21 4
Libraries contribute to creating and strengthening local communities. A‐14, A‐18, A‐29 5
Libraries contribute to developing identities of local residents. A‐7, A‐14, A‐17, A‐18, A‐19, A‐20, A‐35 7
Libraries contribute to strengthening recreation. A‐13, A‐15, A‐16, A‐23, A‐33, A‐35, A‐40 6
Libraries contribute to health improvement of local residents. A‐8, A‐20 2
Libraries contribute to equalization of local residents through providing libraries’ services equally. A‐29 3
Libraries provide government information. A‐10, A‐20, A‐25 4
Libraries let local residents have ownership. A‐19, A‐33 3
Libraries provide services for immigrants to help them adapting to new environment. A‐17 3
Social roles of libraries are expanding. A‐16, A‐19, A‐21, A‐29, A‐31, A‐37 6
Libraries contribute to maintain strong democracy. A‐9 2
Libraries provide information to local communities in need. A‐5, A‐19 2
Libraries contribute to research and personal learning. A‐36 7
Educational and Literacy Value of Libraries Libraries improve literacy. A‐6, A‐13 5
Libraries contribute to early literary and education. A‐2, A‐12, A‐17, A‐23, A‐32, A‐34 6
Education roles of libraries are expanding. A‐6, A‐22, A‐24, A‐38, A‐40 5
Libraries are essential elements for education and education system A‐19, A‐20 4
Libraries have a great value on reading and literacy. A‐5, A‐11, A‐16, A‐23, A‐27, A‐32, A‐34, A‐39 9
Libraries contribute to improve the quality of education in school. A‐1, A‐17 2
Economic Value of Libraries Libraries contribute to local business development. A‐17, A‐19, A‐31 4
Libraries have an economic value on local communities. A‐7, A‐9, A‐19, A‐30, A‐31, A‐35 9
Libraries contribute to create jobs. A‐4, A‐19, A‐20, A‐29 7
ROI of libraries is high. A‐3, A‐18, A‐19. A‐28, A‐29 15
Libraries contribute to manpower development. A‐31 2

Table 3.

Demographic Characteristics of Librarians

Item N %
Gender Male 16 14.3
Female 96 85.7
Age 20s 24 21.4
30s 47 42.0
40s 31 27.7
Over 50s 10 8.9
Employment History Less than 5 yrs. 50 44.6
5 ~ 10 yrs. 23 20.5
10 ~ 15 yrs. 14 12.5
15 ~ 20 yrs. 9 8.0
20 ~ 25 yrs. 11 9.8
More than 25 yr.s 5 4.5
Library Type Public Library 63 56.3
University Library 49 43.8
Collection Size of Library Less than 10,000 Books 4 3.6
10,000 Books ~ 50,000 Books 26 23.2
50,000 Books ~ 100,000 Books 16 14.3
100,000 Books ~ 150,000 Books 12 10.7
150,000 Books ~ 200,000 Books 4 3.6
More than 200,000 Books 50 44.6

Table 4.

Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

Item N %
Gender Male 90 32.4
Female 188 67.6
Age 10s 8 2.9
20s 154 55.4
30s 44 15.8
40s 49 17.6
Over 50s 23 8.3
Status Student (Undergraduate Student, Graduate Student, and etc.) 135 48.6
Public (Office Worker, Housewife, Job Applicant, and etc.) 143 51.4

Table 5.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Social Value between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Contribution to building strong and energetic communities 3.78 0.707 3.56 0.412 2.428 0.017
Contribution to connecting human and ideas 3.84 .578 3.70 .757 1.507 .135
Contribution to creating and strengthening local communities 3.77 .629 3.48 .697 3.141 .002
Contribution to developing identities of local residents 3.65 .640 3.40 .703 2.646 .009
Contribution to strengthening recreation 3.66 .665 3.10 .827 5.309 .000
Contribution to health improvement of local residents 2.93 .802 2.91 .844 .165 .869
Contribution to equalization of local residents 3.75 .753 3.63 .818 1.194 .235
Contribution to providing government information 3.45 .879 3.35 .756 .883 .379
Contribution to ownership of local residents 3.67 .752 3.35 .908 3.091 .003
Contribution to adaption of immigrants to new environment 3.56 .814 3.46 .815 1.125 .263
Contribution to expansion of libraries’ social roles 3.78 .846 3.45 .745 3.221 .002
Contribution to maintenance of strong democracy 3.55 .858 3.30 .847 2.493 .014
Contribution to provision of information to local communities in need 3.90 .643 3.68 .750 2.522 .013
Contribution to research and personal learning 4.10 .710 4.20 .682 ‐1.064 .290
Mean 3.67 0.73 3.47 0.75 2.05 0.16

Table 6.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Building Strong and Energetic Communities (Local Communities) between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries help improving relations between parents and their children. 3.81 .742 3.41 0.855 3.774 .000
Libraries provide space for parents to actively participate in literacy development of their children. 3.88 .699 3.55 .757 3.650 .000
Mostly people importantly consider that libraries should be located in all areas. 4.17 .670 4.17 .758 .000 1.000
Libraries provide space for continuous education, manpower development, and community. 3.93 .625 3.81 .742 1.324 .188
Libraries have a great value and meaning as space for meeting. Users consider libraries as meeting space, conference space, safe and familiar environment, forum space for social networking, and space for book club and reading circle. 3.84 .679 3.79 .941 .420 .676
Mean 3.93 0.68 3.75 0.81 1.83 0.37

Table 7.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Connecting Humans and Ideas between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
All of users having children or grand‐children, local employers lending materials for their company, users visiting libraries to seek employees and information, and users demanding internet access are persons concerned with libraries. 3.90 .643 3.73 .782 1.789 .076
Libraries build and maintain social connection. Users utilize computer and internet resources of libraries to communicate with others, find solutions of problems and their interests, and enjoy other social activities. 3.73 .657 3.70 .781 .355 .723
Rich users visit libraries more than poor users. 3.26 .947 3.03 1.069 1.974 .051
Local residents figure out issues related to themselves such as local problems and social and political issues in libraries. 3.06 .763 3.02 .900 .393 .695
Mean 3.49 0.75 3.37 0.88 1.13 0.39

Table 8.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Creating and Strengthening Local Communities between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries are used for a meeting place to meet friends or family before going to the movies, shopping malls, and downtown. 2.74 .846 2.64 .957 .752 .453
Local residents use internet to participate in such as e‐mail, chat, and discussion in libraries. 2.91 .833 2.63 .921 2.409 .018
Local residents participate in organized meeting such as a night with writers, all kinds of lectures, and a meeting with politicians in libraries. 3.63 .737 3.21 .953 3.725 .000
Public libraries are helpful for local community development. Libraries help building business in the local areas and provide learning opportunities of new skills for better jobs and important and new things for the era. 3.42 .790 3.53 .805 ‐1.029 .306
Public libraries provide valuable meeting place for local residents. They discuss concert, class, and all kinds of events in the place, and reading club and all kinds of social organization gather and talk, read books, and utilize all kinds of libraries’ services. 3.79 .737 3.45 .928 3.312 .001
Mean 3.30 0.79 3.09 0.91 1.83 0.16

Table 9.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Developing Identities of Local Residents between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries may be the most popular sightseeing place (Example: National Sejong Library, National Digital Library, Presidential Archives, and etc.). 3.87 .678 3.54 .804 3.239 .002
Local residents obtain information of organizations related to politics, economy, and culture and for all kinds of leisure activities that are held in the area in public libraries. 3.69 .723 3.51 .771 1.785 .077
Libraries’ programs help preschoolers to prepare for and adapt to school. 3.94 .726 3.76 .830 1.692 .093
Public libraries are very important assets for local communities. 4.32 .633 4.11 .764 2.356 .020
All educational organizations consider that libraries play a key role in local communities. 3.71 .706 3.87 .844 ‐1.685 .095
Libraries help local residents to participate in local activities. They participate in community or volunteer activities, are involved with political and social issues, and obtain news or information of recent events. 3.43 .732 3.30 .826 1.271 .206
Libraries play a key role in rebuilding the cities as areas of culture and art and contribute to attracting tourists and knowledge workers and building high‐technology industries. 3.40 .788 3.52 .890 ‐1.073 .286
Mean 3.77 0.71 3.66 0.82 1.08 0.11

Table 10.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Strengthening Recreation between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries support personal productivity and cultural participation. That is, users visit libraries to find out such as information for their self‐development or companies, materials for performing projects, or information for photo exhibition, research on movies, small business development, and creation of scenario. 3.61 .775 3.56 .757 .469 .640
Libraries support all kinds of important cultural events for local communities. 3.96 .740 3.48 .827 4.398 .000
Libraries’ services provide users an opportunity to enjoy leisure activities, making the libraries valuable. That is, it improves the leisure activities by relieving stress, breaking away from pressure of daily lives, helping treatment for disease of others, and providing all kinds of books, videos, and recreation‐related materials. 3.84 .754 3.54 .848 2.864 .005
Children enjoy libraries’ programs so much, and the programs have a positive value on the society. 4.12 .791 3.58 .812 4.724 .000
Public libraries’ programs help children to prepare for school and provide a good opportunity to learn necessary skills for their learning. 4.10 .759 3.65 .824 4.212 .000
Public libraries satisfy children’s passion and desire to participate in something and always learn things. 4.08 .737 3.60 .822 4.610 .000
Mean 3.95 0.76 3.57 0.82 3.55 0.11

Table 11.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Health Improvement of Local Residents between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Public libraries contribute to improving health and well‐being lives of local communities. 2.94 .831 2.81 .886 1.021 .309
Users visit libraries to find medical and health information (diet information, doctor information, research on oneself or other people’s disease, health insurance information, and information of discounted medicine). 3.15 .841 2.82 .893 2.562 .012
Mean 3.05 0.84 2.82 0.89 1.79 0.16

Table 12.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Equalization of Local Residents between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries’ services contribute to personal development and professionality development. People can access to such as various information sources, IT, and educational materials in libraries without cost. 3.89 .702 3.85 .796 .449 .654
Libraries provide IT services for poor family or people in need of access to computer or internet. 3.86 .758 3.78 .791 .804 .423
Recently, libraries provide employment information, event and program information, and other information resources to all of people equally through online. 3.74 .791 3.56 .780 1.717 .089
Mean 3.83 0.75 3.73 0.79 0.99 0.39

Table 13.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Providing Government Information between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Public libraries collect information created by various governmental organizations and may be the major source of distributing governmental information. 3.65 .835 3.39 .787 2.499 .014
Public libraries are the most basic access to a variety of governmental information regardless of users’ income. 3.65 .887 3.45 .781 1.961 .052
Users may obtain government’s programs and services, important governmental documents, and information of laws and regulations affecting oneself, as well as they may download all kinds of license applications to submit and get help for legal troubles in libraries. 3.28 .851 3.26 .878 .140 .889
Libraries help to access to important information of e‐government. The government provides governmental services developed based on web and libraries give help to access to the governmental services, create electronic documents, and etc. 3.37 .859 3.27 .782 .840 .403
Mean 3.49 0.86 3.34 0.81 1.36 0.34

Table 14.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Ownership of Local Residents between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
People prefer to have libraries close to their houses. 4.38 .619 4.22 .768 1.748 .083
Accessibility of libraries improves the quality of life. 4.21 .663 3.99 .865 2.471 .015
Libraries provide a place that is safe and becomes the important center of life in the area. 4.05 .837 3.69 .921 3.526 .001
Mean 4.21 0.71 3.97 0.85 2.58 0.03

Table 15.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Adaption of Immigrants to New Environment between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Library is a very important organization to make multi‐cultural family adapt to local communities and new society. 3.63 .723 3.36 .879 2.662 .009
Libraries play a key role in aspect of improving literacy, learning language, supporting all kinds of exams, and providing resources to have economic confidence for multi‐cultural families. 3.63 .794 3.42 .877 1.999 .048
Libraries support manpower development activities for immigrants with job searching skills, basic computer instructions, skills for jobs, and instructions for all kinds of tools used for jobs. 3.33 .810 3.38 .807 ‐.403 .688
Mean 3.53 0.78 3.39 0.85 1.42 0.25

Table 16.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Expansion of Libraries’ Social Roles between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries provide opportunities to make the homeless adapt to the society. 2.60 .832 2.70 1.021 ‐.803 .424
Libraries provide services such as searching for jobs of the disabled, filling out tax return forms, offering programs for children, operating mobile libraries, providing education and special programs, and delivering materials to home. 3.37 .870 3.23 .816 1.156 .250
The role of public libraries as a provider of information and technology becomes more important. 3.66 .778 3.45 .837 1.945 .054
Users think that libraries improve the quality of life and it deserves to pay taxes. 3.95 .733 3.66 .754 2.898 .005
Users think that libraries become more important than the past. 3.83 .869 3.35 .965 3.802 .000
Libraries should exist for performing business. 3.06 .862 3.19 .875 ‐1.038 .301
Mean 3.41 0.82 3.26 0.88 1.33 0.17

Table 17.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Maintenance of Strong Democracy between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries support democratic tendency of society. 3.65 .779 3.34 .844 2.826 .006
Libraries help realization of citizens’ democracy by providing access to information regardless of nationality, income, class, age, and gender. 3.94 .774 3.60 .832 3.185 .002
Mean 3.80 0.78 3.47 0.84 3.01 0.00

Table 18.

difference in perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Providing Information to Local Communities In Need between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries support democratic tendency of society. 4.21 .617 4.03 .716 2.193 .030
Libraries help realization of citizens’ democracy by providing access to information regardless of nationality, income, class, age, and gender. 4.10 .710 4.20 .682 ‐1.064 .290
Mean 4.16 0.66 4.12 0.70 0.56 0.16

Table 19.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Research and Personal Learning between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries improve research. 3.96 .722 4.00 .710 ‐.383 .702
Library is a research cooperative organization. 3.80 .745 3.87 .753 ‐.640 .523
Libraries and libraries’ materials are essential for academic organizations. 4.10 .722 4.08 .699 .208 .836
Collection of libraries supports academic activities. 4.17 .656 4.00 .658 2.042 .043
If libraries do not exist, more time and cost would be taken to obtain information resources; thus, academic research cannot be performed without libraries’ resources. 3.90 .747 3.92 .840 ‐.175 .862
Libraries play an important role in reading articles and scholar theses. 3.98 .697 4.04 .702 ‐.709 .480
Academic reference service provided by libraries for research of professors and students has a great value. 4.00 .771 4.09 .742 ‐.905 .368
Mean 3.99 0.72 4.00 0.73 ‐0.08 0.54

Table 20.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Value on Education and Literacy between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Contribution to early literacy and education 3.84 .742 3.56 .708 2.682 .008
Expansion of educational role 4.06 .605 3.67 .821 4.126 .000
Libraries’ education and education system 4.14 .598 3.90 .805 2.630 .010
Value on reading and literacy 4.06 .589 3.71 .666 4.113 .000
Contribution to improving the quality of school education 3.81 .704 3.73 .747 .923 .358
Mean 3.98 0.65 3.71 0.75 2.89 0.08

Table 21.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Early Literacy and Education between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Librarians promote children’s emotional growth by providing services to preschoolers of nursery facilities. That is, it enhances children to have an attitude for learning in school and make them participate in school after learning skills. 3.82 .819 3.68 .750 1.338 .184
Public libraries have a great effect on children’s literacy and education by providing education for their parents. 3.94 .661 3.72 .725 2.333 .021
Libraries provide nursing teachers with literacy programs, early education‐related programs, and workshop. 3.38 .902 3.50 .771 ‐1.145 .255
It is important for librarian teachers that they have to introduce themselves to nursing teachers. It is important to give a presentation of resources available in libraries to children and have a story time with them. 3.82 .713 3.67 .764 1.582 .116
Libraries’ efforts to improve literacy of preschoolers have a positive effect on reading scores of elementary school. 3.90 .735 3.73 .723 1.743 .084
Libraries’ programs for preschoolers and reading programs during summer vacation are good for improving children’s reading ability. 3.99 .788 3.71 .753 2.911 .004
Mean 3.81 0.77 3.67 0.75 1.46 0.11

Table 22.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Expansion of Educational Role between Groups(unit: %)

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Parents say that their children enjoy libraries’ programs. 3.89 .715 3.33 .894 5.309 .000
Children like libraries’ programs. Librarians, parents, and early educators like libraries’ programs having a positive educational effect. 4.01 .622 3.55 .769 4.937 .000
Librarians of school libraries try hard to teach and educate skills for children. 3.68 .762 3.27 .870 3.750 .000
The more students visit libraries, the higher ACT scores (English, math, reading, and science) they obtain. 3.80 .682 3.26 .975 5.503 .000
School libraries’ programs are positively related to reading scores. In other words, the more staff of libraries provide information literacy education to students and libraries’ services to teachers, the higher reading scores the students obtain than other students without the education and service. 3.96 .684 3.59 .896 3.721 .000
Mean 3.87 0.69 3.40 0.88 4.64 0.00

Table 23.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Essential Element for Education and Education System between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries are an essential part of education system. 4.16 .623 4.13 .686 .446 .657
There are values and meanings in operating education programs according to educational role of libraries. 4.14 .613 4.02 .671 1.576 .118
There are values and meanings in collecting materials according to educational role of libraries. 4.19 .651 4.04 .709 1.706 .091
Users learn things through education programs in libraries. Libraries enhance local residents to participate in social life using libraries’ internet, computer, and all kinds of electric data. 3.97 .622 3.79 .764 2.191 .031
Mean 4.12 0.63 4.00 0.71 1.48 0.22

Table 24.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Value on Reading and Literacy between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Librarians’ professionality is very excellent to select and utilize materials. Librarians are proficient in stimulating children’s curiosity through books and stories. 3.78 .625 3.49 .827 2.723 .008
Children’s reading ability can be improved through reading and literacy education provided by libraries. 4.04 .591 3.80 .627 3.157 .002
Libraries motivate children to read books. 4.08 .673 3.79 .740 3.264 .001
Libraries’ reading programs make children to spend more time with books and have a positive effect on improving reading achievement. 4.19 .637 3.91 .679 3.282 .001
Librarians help children to show their ability through various methods such as selective reading and building vocabularies, and they have a great effect on the students’ will and interest of reading. 3.78 .694 3.31 .794 4.286 .000
There are positive and significant relations between public libraries’ services for children and reading achievement in school. 3.97 .729 3.66 .705 3.079 .003
Students think that libraries make them read books with more fun. 3.90 .697 3.54 .838 3.425 .001
Libraries provide environment of reading printed materials for adults and they can raise awareness of the reading experience to children. 4.10 .643 3.74 .707 4.070 .000
Libraries contribute to teenagers’ literacy. 3.62 .674 3.74 .707 ‐1.406 .162
Mean 3.94 0.66 3.66 0.74 2.88 0.02

Table 25.

Difference in Perception Related to the Item of Contribution to Improving the Quality of School Education between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
School libraries contribute to providing improved quality of school libraries’ programs. 3.86 .669 3.75 .822 1.190 .236
Schools having qualified and trained librarian teachers show higher academic achievement of students. 3.99 .765 3.64 .889 3.265 .001
Mean 3.93 0.72 3.70 0.86 2.23 0.12

Table 26.

Difference in Perception of Libraries’ Value on Economy between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Contribution to local business development 3.33 .728 3.41 .800 ‐.831 .408
Economic value for local communities 3.66 .730 3.60 .799 .624 .534
Contribution to creating jobs 3.43 .813 3.36 .889 .631 .529
Libraries’ ROI 3.36 .793 3.19 .855 1.452 .149
Contribution to manpower development 3.54 .838 3.61 .787 ‐.639 .524
Mean 3.46 0.78 3.43 0.83 0.25 0.43

Table 27.

Difference in Perception Related to Local Business Development between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries are an important source of small companies. The libraries are important organizations providing business‐related information when a person plans or starts a new business or needs to know related regulations. 3.11 .740 3.26 .768 ‐1.380 .170
Since people visiting libraries spend money around libraries, the income of stores around libraries is increased. 3.34 .812 3.39 .933 ‐.479 .633
The economic value of libraries is to promote business development. All kinds of business‐related online database and related books, journals, and etc. provided by libraries for free are helpful for business development. 3.28 .785 3.44 .814 ‐1.467 .145
Businessmen do not think that they can start, grow, and improve a business without libraries that they can use for free. 2.88 .840 3.06 .913 ‐1.489 .139
Mean 3.15 0.79 3.29 0.86 ‐1.20 0.27

Table 28.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Economic Value of Local Communities between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries’ economic performance is very good (as the result of study, the economic performance of US Carnegie Library was that more than 900 jobs created and approx. 97 billion won/ 80 million dollars earned per a year). 3.46 .804 3.47 .805 ‐.163 .871
Libraries provide immaterial and indirect benefits. The libraries enhance access to networking information services and information resources, and the users utilize digitalized resources and all kinds of programs and services provided by the libraries to obtain economic benefits. The more the world is networking, the more the libraries become important. 3.74 .756 3.63 .749 1.174 .243
Social return rate of public libraries are much higher than ROI. SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) is performed on such as collection of materials, libraries’ various services, education programs, educational effect on citizens’ literacy, libraries’ technologies, professionality of libraries’ staff, libraries’ facilities as meeting places of community, outcome of libraries’ users at stores around libraries, increased the value of real estate around libraries, and cooperation of local communities. 3.59 .823 3.63 .796 ‐.323 .747
When a library is close to a house, the house’s economic value is increased. 3.88 .878 3.76 .862 1.130 .261
Public libraries are helpful for local economy. (as the result of study, public libraries in Minnesota, US created economic profits more than approx. 441.3 billion won (366.40 million dollars) in the area). 3.58 .790 3.63 .737 ‐.446 .657
Libraries increase the values of house, neighborhood, and home environment. House prices around libraries are more expensive than the areas without libraries. 3.84 .906 3.63 .794 2.123 .036
Libraries create economic dynamism (as the result of study, US Seattle Central Library contributed to such as learning, literacy, business productivity, personal and professionality development, and personal life through increased use of libraries’ resources). 3.58 .790 3.45 .757 1.325 .188
Establishment of libraries contributes to increasing income of surrounding companies and promoting local economy (as the result of study, establishment of US Seattle Central Library brought economic boom). 3.45 .858 3.44 .769 .085 .932
People working in companies may obtain business and research information, information for decision making, investment information, and etc. in public libraries close to their location. 3.38 .749 3.46 .758 ‐.863 .390
Mean 3.61 0.82 3.57 0.78 0.45 0.48

Table 29.

Difference in Perception Related to Contribution to Creating Jobs between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries may help students to prepare their future jobs. 3.87 .651 3.73 .859 1.315 .191
Libraries create jobs (as the result of study, US libraries created approx. 3,674 jobs and 1,204 indirect jobs per a year, which was differentiated according to each state). 3.43 .824 3.37 .870 .530 .597
Volunteer activities in libraries have a value to enhance to be equipped with skills and knowledge for jobs and build self‐confidence. 3.48 .870 3.47 .827 .077 .939
Libraries create jobs in following industries (example: book publication, real estate facility, electricity generation‐transmission, retail and wholesale company, food service and beverage place, private hospital, telecommunication, doctor/dentist/other health manager office, state and local government company, natural gas distribution, citizen‐ and society‐ professional, insurance company, petroleum refinery, momentary authority and deposit, printing, truck transportation, publisher, legal service, postal service, nursing and residential care facility, food and beverage sale, and other management). 3.41 .800 3.47 .859 ‐.540 .590
Establishment of libraries has an effect on growth of related companies and thus creates jobs. 3.37 .880 3.34 .896 .222 .825
Libraries contribute to creating jobs and improve entrepreneurship. The libraries support employment of local residents with such as job searching, searching materials related to prepare a resume, searching job information, submitting applications through online, and training for jobs. 3.41 .823 3.36 .804 .470 .639
Public libraries create jobs for whole local area. 3.27 .880 3.17 .804 .816 .416
Mean 3.46 0.82 3.42 0.85 0.41 0.60

Table 30.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ ROI between Groups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries’ productivity resulting from investment is high (as the result of study, it was 4 to 7 times). 3.39 .820 3.24 .797 1.345 .181
Local residents think that more budgets should be invested to libraries. 3.73 .880 3.48 .900 2.157 .033
Income and other benefits created by public libraries per a year are high (as the result of study, it achieved more than approx. 314.2 billion won / 260.8 million dollars and effect of employing 3,674 persons). 3.39 .831 3.29 .743 .919 .360
The economic value of public libraries’ reference service is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 5,300 won / 4.32 dollars per a case). 3.55 .769 3.52 .816 .327 .744
The economic value of public libraries’ programs for adults is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 7,900 won / 6.48 dollars per a case). 3.62 .701 3.36 .793 2.759 .007
The economic value of public libraries’ programs for teenagers is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 5,300 won / 4.32 dollars per a case). 3.79 .740 3.51 .759 2.812 .006
Economic value of public libraries’ programs for children is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 5,300 won / 4.32 dollars per a case). 4.00 .735 3.60 .811 3.774 .000
The economic value of public libraries’ lending service for adults is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 910 thousand won / 748 dollars per a case). 3.73 .710 3.56 .803 1.773 .079
The economic value of public libraries’ lending service for teenagers is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 7,900 won / 6.48 dollars per a case). 3.83 .709 3.54 .793 2.999 .003
Donation to libraries is meaningful to tax payers (example: tax exemption benefit is given). 3.46 .929 3.41 .789 .456 .649
Value of investing to libraries is high (as the result of study, ROI was approx. 5,600 won (4.62 dollars); in Florida, public libraries’ ROI was approx. 1,300 won (8.32 dollars)). 3.78 .835 3.55 .769 2.171 .032
The economic value of libraries’ computers connected to internet is high (as the result of study, its value was approx. 5,300 won (4.32 dollars)). 3.59 .754 3.54 .816 .529 .598
Direct and indirect economic effect of public libraries is great (as the result of study, it was estimated to be approx. 45.8 billion won (38 million dollars) per a year)). 3.66 .766 3.60 .765 .576 .566
Libraries’ economic activities create tax revenue (as the result of study, Wisconsin public libraries created tax revenue of approx. 28.8 billion won (23.9 million dollars) per a year)). 3.32 .785 3.34 .754 ‐.165 .869
The higher education level is, the higher WTP of libraries is. 3.63 .805 3.73 .849 ‐.900 .370
Mean 3.63 0.78 3.48 0.80 1.44 0.30

Table 31.

Difference in Perception Related to Libraries’ Contribution to Manpower Development between Gro ups

Item Librarian User t p
Mean SD Mean SD
Libraries have a direct effect on searching jobs (as the result of study, in Philadelphia, 979 persons found their jobs using resources provided by libraries). 3.39 .853 3.42 .743 ‐.240 .811
The economic value of libraries is high in aspect of manpower development. It greatly contributes to online‐offline job searching, use of manpower development database, skill development related to career development, and reading activities for career development. 3.52 .890 3.42 .845 .812 .419
Mean 3.46 0.87 3.42 0.79 0.29 0.62