Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

While schools are the primary non-home environment where children learn and grow, non-school settings also have a valuable role to play in improving important student outcomes. The library is one such publicly funded institution with an explicit mission to advance youth literacy and lifelong learning (ALA, n.d.). Yet there is little research on whether - and how effectively -- such institutions achieve those goals. In this presentation, we will report on a partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) to evaluate current engagement with library patrons and barriers to affecting the outcomes of youth (age 8-12). Pending implementation timeline, our presentation will also report on a pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of our recommended behaviorally-informed policy and practice shifts.

The Brooklyn Public Library is the sixth largest public library system in the United States, with a service coverage area of 2.5 million individuals (ALA, n.d.). In fiscal year 2017, 8.38 million individuals visited a BPL branch, borrowing 14.4 million books and materials. Card sign-ups are increasing – as of February 2018, BPL had created three percent more new cards than year-to-date in February 2017 and 10 percent more cards than year-to-date February 2016. Yet despite the broad reach of the library and new user interest, overall circulation and visits have decreased in recent years. One reason BPL hypothesized for low engagement was fine accrual families experience from late or non-returned items. BPL and other library systems in New York City offered amnesty in October 2017, which forgave the fines of around 178,000 youth (39 percent of whom had accrued sufficient fines and had a blocked card prior to amnesty). In the first 12 days following amnesty, 6.5 percent of individuals who had fines waived checked out materials from the library.

Moving forward from the amnesty, BPL was interested in improving overall library use, welcoming previously marginalized users back to the library community, and reducing the likelihood of individuals accruing new fines. We engaged in a behavioral diagnosis in which we examined the effects of the amnesty on initial library usage and evaluated current communication streams via focus groups with parents in the community to identify potential behavioral barriers and solutions to reach these engagement goals.

To date, research on library use and student outcomes has focused on those relationships in higher education (see, among others: LeMaistre, Shi, & Thanki, 2018; Thorpe, Lukes, Bever, & He, 2016), particularly in non-U.S. settings. Library research in the K-12 system typically focuses on in-school library and librarian availability and use (Lance, 2010; Dow, Lakin, & Court, 2012; Barack, 2012). Little is known about the potential role of the public library in affecting the academic and social-emotional development of youth and their families. Our study is the first of which we are aware to apply behavioral insights to improving public library services and addressing this gap in understanding the extent to which such public institutions address their explicit missions of improving the lives of the youth they serve.