| Abstract: | This study examines the cost-effectiveness of consolidated county libraries in large metropolitan areas of the Midwest and compares it with the cost-effectiveness of large city libraries which share service to the county with other large public library systems in the area. The hypothesis that consolidated county library systems serve a large metropolitan area more economically than two or more large public libraries within a county is tested. The survey method is used to collect population, budget, and circulation statistics from 19 libraries in Midwestern cities of 100,000 or more. The data are analyzed for cost-effectiveness using a one tailed T-test to compare the means of county versus noncounty. The results of this study demonstrate a significant difference between the Cost per Item Circulated and the Per Capita Circulation from county to non-county libraries. It costs the county libraries less to circulate one item and they also circulate more items for each person in the population they serve. These results have implications for future decisions of libraries considering merger of several libraries into a consolidated system. |
