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

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.

Table 1.

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

4.2 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:

Table 2.

Contents and Questions of Survey

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%.

Table 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%.

Table 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:

Table 5.

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.

Table 6.

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).

Table 7.

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.

Table 8.

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.

Table 9.

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.

Table 10.

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.

Table 11.

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.

Table 12.

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.’

Table 13.

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.

Table 14.

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.

Table 15.

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.

Table 16.

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.

Table 17.

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.

Table 18.

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.

Table 19.

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.

Table 20.

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.

Table 21.

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.

Table 22.

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.

Table 23.

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.

Table 24.

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.

Table 25.

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.’

Table 26.

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.

Table 27.

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.

Table 28.

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.’

Table 29.

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.

Table 30.

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.’

Table 31.

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

6. Discussion and Future Research

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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