A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Public Libraries and Their Role in Education

The lower the education and income level of the public, the higher they rate the educational importance of their public library. This was just one of the results of a recent OERI-funded national survey conducted by the University of Minnesota and the Gallup Organization. Most of those surveyed-especially blacks and Hispanics-regard public libraries as a very important source of support for their community's educational aspirations.

A national sample of the general public was asked to evaluate the importance to their communities of the major roles of the public library. Those roles rated "very important" by at least 50 percent of the sample were (in order)

An educational support center for students of all ages (88 percent);
A learning center for adult independent learners (85 percent);
A discovery and learning center for preschool children (83 percent);
A research center for scholars and researchers (68 percent);
A center for community information (66 percent);
An information center for community businesses (55 percent);
A comfortable place for people to read, think, or work (52 percent); and
A recreational reading center (51 percent).

Comparisons were also made among respondents with different household incomes and among respondents based on highest grade level achieved. They revealed that those with household incomes below $15,000 and those with an 8th grade education or less rated the educational roles of the library (the first three items in the above list) as "very important" more often than did those with incomes of $60,000 or more or those who had completed college.

Subsequent national surveys of blacks and Hispanics, when combined with the general public poll, enabled comparative analyses of opinions. The results of these comparisons indicated that

Among all racial/ethnic groups the highest percentages of "very important" responses occurred for the three educational roles of the public library (the first three items in the above list); and
Blacks and Hispanics systematically evaluated the importance of each of the roles of the public library to the community more highly than did whites (81, 78, and 64 percent respectively).

This study was funded by a grant made under the Library Research and Demonstration Program, Title II-B of the Higher Education Act. A brochure on the report-Public Libraries Serving Communities: Education is Job #1-is available free from OERI, #LP 94-4009. (See ordering information.) The complete final report is available from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service at 1-800-443-ERIC; order #IR-054814.

What's in the ED/OERI Gopher? Arts in the Future