City/county leaders cite digital inclusion, education as top priorities for libraries

Local government leaders envision public libraries as a key resource to support their communities’ education and digital inclusion goals while indicating interest in exploring new roles for libraries to address other community priorities, according to a recent survey conducted by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with The Aspen Institute and the Public Library Association (PLA). The new report, Local Libraries Advancing Community Goals, 2016, highlights five community priorities, ranked high or very high, where local government leaders see libraries playing an important role:

• access to high-speed Internet service (73 percent)
• digital literacy (65 percent)
• early childhood education (65 percent)
• primary and secondary school attainment (59 percent)
• civic engagement (45 percent)

The survey also finds three areas of opportunity for library and local government leaders to work together more closely: collaborating on community priorities, engaging in active information sharing and communication about community issues, and seeking additional funding sources to enable libraries to expand programming and services.