The Cost of a Library Card

Have you ever looked at your property taxes? We just got our statement and I wanted to have a closer look at some of the items. There was one entry that jumped out at me... how much money goes to our local library...

That's it... $91.38 a year goes to our local library. Which seems a ridiculously tiny amount of money for the benefits it can give. And... that number is for our entire household! So, really, per person (in our two person household), it's $45.69/person...

A few weeks back, I wrote a blog post about my love affair with books and I included a picture which speaks volumes...

In 2018, the average value of a library card was $661. That means that of the citizens who have a library card, the average person got $661 of value out of their library card... I had a look at our 2018 Property Tax statement and that year... we paid $78 towards the library. Crazy!

Sooo... in 2018, we paid $39/person for the library and got $661 in value... that's a pretty sweet deal. It's like a 94% discount or a 1695% bonus... who would not want to take advantage of that??

I couldn't find stats for our library system but... in Canada as a whole, about 60% of Canadians have a library card. Only 40% of Canadians, however, are active library borrowers. So... that means 60% of Canadians are paying for the library system but not using it. I was one of those people for many years - it was just easier to buy books. And too much of a hassle to order the books via the library and then remember to return them... But, I have become a library convert...

Although, our household does seem to follow the stats, more or less... I have a library card but my partner does not. Although... any books she requests, I order on my card, which works out well.

Right now, with the virus circulating, I obviously haven't been able to access the library, which has been closed. At least not for physical books... but e-books are still available... and a variety of databases. And... our library just posted a notice that we can now use the Ancestry Library Edition (genealogy research) which is super cool!

I miss the library and I'm going to guess that the 2020 value of a library card is going to be a bit less this year but still... it's good for the environment and good for my budget...