Predictions that the internet would make public libraries obsolete have not come true. Visits to many city libraries have held steady or risen, even as lending of printed books has fallen. The explanation is that libraries were never only about books. They offer a warm, free and safe place to sit, internet access for those without it, and staff who help people fill in forms, find jobs and learn new skills.
This changing role creates a measurement problem. Funders have traditionally judged libraries by the number of books lent, a figure that now understates their value. A library that helps a hundred people apply for benefits in a month appears, by that measure, to be doing less than one that lends a hundred novels. If councils continue to cut budgets in response to falling loan numbers, they may close the very services that make libraries valuable.
Some librarians argue that the answer is not to defend the old measure but to replace it, counting hours of computer use, workshop attendance and enquiries answered. The shift would not be simple, because these activities are harder to define and compare than loans. But a measure that fits what libraries now do is better than one that merely fits what they once did.
