Canadians, Public Libraries and the Information Highway: Final Report

Canadians' Use of Public Libraries

As a starting point, the survey explored Canadians' usage of public libraries across a number of different indicators, including whether or not respondents had used a public library in the last week and how many visits they made in the past year, as well as the different activities they had participated in while visiting a library.

While there is no one unique definition of a "user", it has for the purposes of this study been broadly defined to include any respondents who reported visiting a public library in the past twelve months. It is important to note that the distinction should not be interpreted as a precise measure of the "user" and "non-user" populations, although it will serve to illustrate key differences in attitudes and usage patterns.

2.1 A Profile of Library Use

Generally speaking, the survey findings suggest that public libraries continue to be used by a large number of Canadians across the country, although usage, as might be expected, varies considerably across segments of the population.

(a) Public Library Card

On a basic level, nearly two in three respondents (63 per cent) reported having a public library card.

As shown in Exhibit 2.1, there are significant differences along gender, age, and income lines.

• Females are more likely to report having a public library card than males.
• The proportion of respondents with library cards falls sharply with age.
• Similar sharp differences ar e noted along income lines, with lower income groups being the least likely to report having a card.

There are a few other differences:

• On a regional basis, reported possession of a public library card is higher in British Columbia (74 per cent) and Ontario (68 per cent), and slightly lower in Quebec (53 per cent).
• Couples with children are more likely to report having a card than couples without (70 per cent vs. 60 per cent). The same is true with single parents over their counterparts without children (65 per cent vs. 54 per cent).
• Respondents liv ing in communities with less than 10,000 inhabitants also reported lower levels (53-55 per cent).

On another note, it would appear that having a library card is not necessarily indicative of using public libraries. While it is only a small minority, 16 per cent of respondents with a library card reported that they had not used a public library in the past year.

(b) Patterns and Frequency of Use

Respondents were asked whether they had visited or attended a public library in the last week as well as how many times in the past 12 months.

As shown in Exhibit 2.2, 39 per cent of respondents indicated that they had visited or attended a public library in the last week. Two in three respondents (66 per cent) also said that they had done the same in the past twelve months for an overall average of 7.7 visits across all groups.

While it is likely that both figures overstate the actual number of visits, they still both suggest that a significant number of Canadians use public libraries. It is also worth noting that the results from this study are similar to those reported in the 1991 Reading in Canada study which had used a similar methodology. In both studies, there was a similar pattern of Canadians using public libraries as compared to other activities. A comparison of the results also suggests that the number of visits to public libraries has increased. In the 1991 survey, 32 per cent reported they had visited or attended a public library in the last week, and an average of 6.4 visits in the past 12 months.

There is a fair degree of variation in reported use in the past 12 months (Exhibit 2.3). While one in three respondents indicated that they have not visited a public library over the last year, another one in five (21 per cent) reported that they had been more than 12 times a year (i.e., the equivalent of once a month). Another 14 per cent reported visiting a public library one or two times in the past year, and 31 per cent reported that it was between three and 11 visits.

There are a number of differences across subgroups. Females, younger respondents, middle and upper income groups, and those living in Ontario and British Columbia are more likely to be frequent visitors of public library in the past year. By corollary, males, older respondents, lower income groups, and those living in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, and the Prairies are less likely to have visited public libraries as often in the past year. The average number of visits across different subgroups is summarized in Table 2.1.

Respondents who had not been to a public library in the past year were also asked the main reasons for not doing so (Exhibit 2.4). For the most part, the two most important reasons centred around the fact that these respondents reported buying their own books or have no interest or reason to visit a public library. Other reasons centred around inconveniences, access elsewhere, children no longer going to libraries.

2.2 How Public Libraries are Being Used

Survey respondents were also asked how often they had done a range of different activities when visiting a public library in the past three months. The frequency of activities are analyzed only for "users" given that "non-users", by definition, would not have done any of them.

The survey findings suggest that public libraries are being used for a wide range of activities, although certain activities are much more frequently done than others (Exhibits 2.5a and 2.5b).

• The most common activities reported by a majority of "users" involve borrowing books (i.e., 66 per cent reported borrowing books at least 1-3 times in the past three months), browsing through books, magazines, and newspapers (54 per cent), and using reference materials (50 per cent).
• Many "users" are also using public libraries for research (45 per cent) as well as consulting with library staff (46 per cent).
• Despite being in the minority, a significant number of "users" report borrowing other materials such as videos and CDs (31 per cent) and using photocopiers in public libraries (28 per cent).
• Taking children to events or attending a library program were reported by 16 per cent and seven per cent of "users" respectively.
• One in ten "users" also reported having accessed either on-line data bases (12 per cent) or Internet services (ten per cent).
• Facilities such as meeting rooms were used by ten per cent of "users".

Somewhat surprisingly, there are relatively few statistically differences across different subgroups of "users". The main differences include:

• Females and students were the most likely groups to report having borrowed books (74 per cent and 87 per cent respectively).
• Reference materials were most likely to have been used by students (73 per cent), younger respondents (68 per cent), and those living in larger urban centres (62 per cent).
• Browsing was most often reported amongst respondents living in larger urban centres (66 per cent), single respondents without any children (62 per cent), and those with a university degree (61 per cent).
• Public library staff were consulted most often by students (66 per cent), university educated respondents (53 per cent), and females (49 per cent).
• Closely related, the groups most likely to have undertaken research include students (78 per cent), younger respondents (64 per cent), and lower income respondents (58 per cent).
• Accessing Internet services is highest amongst students (31 per cent) and younger respondents (23 per cent).
• Like Internet services, on-line data bases were used most often by younger respondents (24 per cent) and students (25 per cent). Higher usage was also reported in larger urban centres (20 per cent).
• Students, younger respondents, and those living in lower-income households were the most likely to report having used photocopiers (63 per cent, 51 per cent, and 42 per cent respectively).