Speaker at ILOC 2025: Libraries deliver measurable returns but also critical non‑monetary value

At a State Library of Iowa continuing-education session presented at the ILOC 2025 conference, Kevin Unwrapp, a consultant for library operations with the Vermont Department of Libraries, told trustees and staff that libraries should document their non‑monetary value as well as traditional cost‑benefit measures.

Unwrapp said monetary measures such as circulation counts and return‑on‑investment calculators are useful but incomplete. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted,” he said, and later added, “libraries were green and were part of the sharing economy a hundred years before that was cool.”

Why it matters: Library budgets and capital campaigns increasingly require defenders to explain value in familiar budgetary terms. Unwrapp urged trustees to pair numbers with human stories so local funders and officials better understand how libraries serve as community living rooms, workforce supports, archives and sustainable resource hubs.

Unwrapp illustrated his talk with examples and data drawn from multiple places. He cited a circulation and digital‑use example from Idaho (physical circulation in the millions and nearly 3 million electronic checkouts in a recent reporting period) and said one public library system calculated an ROI of 3.16 — “for every $1 tax dollar we spent, we provided the public with $3.16 of benefits.” He pointed to a Mesa, Arizona, patron receipt that showed a single user’s cumulative savings of $65,550.33 since 02/2010 as an accessible way to show financial value to users.

But Unwrapp emphasized benefits that do not fit neatly into dollar figures: public libraries as community builders (programming attendance and social‑well‑being), keepers of local history (oral histories and archives), and sustainable resource sharers (libraries of things, shared meeting space, and energy‑efficient buildings). He described the Aldrich Library in Barre, Vermont, as a single building that both houses a historic statue by sculptor Giuliano Cecinelli and hosted a “free food for kids and teens” program, calling that dual role an example of how libraries combine learning and community services.

Unwrapp also noted recent federal funding and infrastructure needs: a radio story excerpt he played reported that 14 Vermont public libraries would split nearly $16 million in grants to fund upgrades in a state where about half of library buildings are more than 100 years old. He described the Shelburne, Vermont, library project — a $7,000,000 new building with net‑zero features that won recognition from Efficiency Vermont — as an example of advocacy tied to a clear values inventory.

Research and local studies cited in the session included a Dominican University study on summer reading programs and a New York Public Library/University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center survey that Unwrapp summarized as finding large shares of respondents reporting positive social‑well‑being after library visits (92 percent calm/peaceful, 90 percent increased love of learning, 88 percent personal growth in the reported sample).

Speakers in the session encouraged trustees to build a simple inventory that lists measurable items (circulation, program attendance, computer/Wi‑Fi uses, archives digitized) and qualitative benefits (role in disaster response, social connection, lifelong learning). “If you look at that big town up the road, they circulated so many more. But when you can really prove the unique value that your institution provides in your town, whatever that is, that’s when you’re really going to have a lot of buy‑in,” said the session host, Bonnie McKeown of the Northwest District Office.

An audio clip from Carolyn Pacazio, director of library services at the Kellogg Hubbard Public Library in Montpelier, described the mix of patrons who use libraries: “We have grandparents or parents, new parents often coming in for story time. We have people who are working remotely, who don’t have a coworking space or maybe live in a tiny apartment. We have someone who lives in a group home who needs support… and they come in multiple times a day to use our public computer.” Pacazio’s remarks were used as an example of communicating the many distinct roles libraries play in a single community.

Unwrapp closed by recommending trustees and staff create a short, shareable inventory of values and pair data with a memorable story for budget hearings and public conversations. He provided several concrete starting points: measure summer reading reach, count unique local history items and digitized records, tally program attendance and technology uses, and document “library of things” circulation such as snowshoes or specialized kits.

No formal policy or vote was taken during the session. The presentation concluded with a brief audience discussion about pairing data with storytelling and adapting the inventory approach for small and rural libraries.