A recent study confirmed libraries really do make life better - and in more ways than even the most avid bibliophile might expect.
A case study from the New York Public Library declared that in today’s society, libraries stand out as among the last truly public institutions. Providing access to resources without financial, social, or physical barriers, public libraries make a unique contribution to promoting individual and collective flourishing throughout the communities they serve.
Researchers with the New York Public Library surveyed 1,974 users to see how visiting the library affected their overall well-being. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with the vast majority reporting that library visits contribute to their personal growth and make them more empathetic and optimistic about the world. As one patron said, “It offers us hope that we can do something, that we can make a change, that we can advance.”
92 percent of respondents also reported feeling calm or peaceful after visiting a library. Those good vibes even extend to e-only users, with 58 percent reporting a sense of optimism from digital library interactions.
Perhaps most moving, though, is that the positive well-being impacts were found to be highest in lower income communities, with 73 percent of those surveyed in lower income zip codes reporting that the library positively affects their “feeling that there are people who really care about them.”
“Public libraries - those enduring and adaptive positive institutions - provide us with information, inspiration, and connection for staying resilient in adversity and for imagining and creating more fulfilling lives and thriving communities. This report helps us see and relate to libraries as important resources for, and centers of, flourishing,” says Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman
Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
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