MHLS Quotable Facts

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MHLS Quotable Facts

Did you know?

More than one out of every two people in the Hudson Valley have library cards (63%).
There were over 3.5 million visits to MHLS member libraries (2006).
Member libraries saved their communities over $14.5 million* by sharing items in 2006. (*Based on $20 an item.)
There are currently over 2.25 million items in the Online Public Library Catalog.
Library patrons conduct more than 3 million searches a year in the Online Public LIbrary Catalog.
Over 800,000 reserves were placed in 2006, a 54% increase since 2004.
There are over 530 computers available for public use at MHLS Member Libraries.
Value of Reference Services from MHLS Libraries: over $1.74 million in 2005. (Based on Google Answers charge of a minimum of $2.50 a question.)

Can you imagine?
Total MHLS member library program attendance exceeded 250,000 people. If attendees had gone to a movie instead, it would have cost them nearly $2 million.
(based on the cost of a movie ticket, $8)

Can you picture this?
Over 3.65 million library items were circulated to area residents. If those residents had purchased all those items it would have cost them over $73 million!
(based on an estimated cost of $20 per item)

The Basics:

MHLS serves 66 public libraries in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam and Ulster counties.
The MHLS service area totals 3,000 square miles - that's as big as Connecticut and Rhode Island added together!
Drivers for the MHLS delivery service average 4,100 miles a week!
For every $1 of State Aid put into a public library system, approximately $12.50 in services is provided for public library users.

Libraries at the State Level:
A Selection from the NYSL Division of Library Development's New York's Libraries: How They STACK UP!

New York's libraries hold more than 210 million volumes statewide - that's about 11 items for each person living in New York State.
Over ten times more people visit New York State's public libraries each year than attend New York State's professional baseball, basketball, football and hockey games combined.
Librarians in New York State deliver nearly 27 million hours of service each year. (12,900 x 40 hours a week x 52 weeks)

Libraries at the National Level:

Quotable Facts About America's Libraries (ALA) (order reproductions of this pamphlet from the MHLS Online Material Request Form)
A sampling from OCLC's How Libraries Stack Up:
- US Public Library Cardholders outnumber Amazon customers amost 5 to 1.
- US Libraries circulate about the same number of items that FedEx ships per day. (more than 5.3 million items per day)
- Five times more people visit U.S. public libraries each year than attend U.S.professional and college football, basketball, baseball and hockey games combined. (If library patrons were to pay the average sporting game ticket price of approximately $35 per visit, libraries would generate more than $39 billion in annual revenues.)

Learn more about demonstrating the Economic Impact of your library through the Return on Investment (ROI) section of the MHLS Administration & Managemtent web page at http://midhudson.org/admin/eco_impact.htm.

last updated: 1.08