Institutional Arrangements for Public Library Funding and Spending

• Author: Aimee L. Franklin,Jonathan Moore,Carol Ebdon,Ji Hyung Park
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Date: 01 July 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0275074018785449
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074018785449

American Review of Public Administration

2019, Vol. 49(5) 532 –544

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074018785449

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Article

Introduction

Local public libraries in the United States vary widely in

institutional structure and sources of funding. Libraries

may be operated as a department of city or county govern-

ment, as a multijurisdictional entity, as a special district, or

as a nonprofit organization. Revenues are, on average,

largely from local government sources, and some libraries

have the ability to tax. Others, though, rely heavily on state

and federal funding, or on private donations. These differ-

ences in funding streams might be expected to lead to dif-

ferential spending patterns and variations in performance

outcomes. Little research has been done in this vital service

area prominent in most localities. Studying the effects of

institutional arrangements and revenue diversification can

begin to address this gap in our knowledge and can also

inform theory related to the politics of the budgetary pro-

cess. In this research, we examine factors related to taxing

authority and financing that may affect per capita spending

levels in libraries. Our findings may help in developing

theory in this area, as well as being useful for practitioners

seeking to understand the relationships among funding

sources, structure, and spending.

The next section summarizes key milestones in the devel-

opment of public libraries in this country. The following sec-

tion discusses relevant literature and our hypotheses. The

methodology and empirical findings are then presented. The

final section draws conclusions from the study and suggests

future avenues of research.

Development of Public Libraries in the

United States

Many of us think of Benjamin Franklin in relation to librar-

ies. Franklin started a subscription library in Philadelphia in

1731. This concept then spread to other places (Seymour &

Layne, 1979). A subscription library was a common-law cor-

poration to which anyone could belong by paying a fee.

Early libraries in the United States were primarily funded

either by user subscription or else proprietary, in which indi-

viduals invested in shares. Survival was difficult for these

early libraries. “The average institution, which held fewer

than three hundred volumes and had a membership of only

twenty-five to fifty persons, withered away during the

depressions or led a languishing life as soon as the initial

enthusiasm waned or the founding father moved away”

(Garceau, 1972, p. 20). One vestige of these organizations

that continues up to the present day, however, was a board of

trustees. As nonprofit corporations, they required a charter

from the colony or state; the charter detailed the corporate

powers and role of the board (Ladenson, 1982).

785449ARPXXX10.1177/0275074018785449The American Review of Public AdministrationEbdon et al.

research-article2018

1University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA

2James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA

3The University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA

Corresponding Author:

Carol Ebdon, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., CPACS

111, Omaha, NE 68182, USA.

Email: cebdon@unomaha.edu

Institutional Arrangements for Public Library

Funding and Spending

Carol Ebdon1, Ji Hyung Park2, Aimee L. Franklin3,

and Jonathan Moore3

Abstract

Wide variation in institutional structure and funding patterns in public libraries make this government function useful for

exploring the effect of these differences on expenditures. Based on literature related to willingness to pay, special districts,

and fiscal illusion, we hypothesize that libraries with taxing authority and more revenues from nonlocal sources will have

higher levels of spending. We use data from an Annual Public Library Survey, and U.S. Census data, in ordinary least squares

(OLS) regressions for 2007 and 2010. We find that taxing authority leads to increased spending, as expected. However,

the results of funding sources are contrary to expectations; relative reliance on nonlocal sources is generally associated

with lower levels of spending. This may be due to “crowding-out” of local sources, and there may also be some effect from

reduced state aid following the Great Recession.

Keywords

libraries, spending, recession, government structure