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Library Use Value Calculator

What is your library worth to you?

How much would you pay out-of-pocket for your library services?

• Enter in the left hand column the number of times per month you or your family use each service.
• Estimated retail value of each service will be calculated on the right.
• Total value of your library use is shown at the bottom of the worksheet.
• Tip: Tab between entries and do not use commas.

Value of Library Services

Input Your Use	Library Services	Value of Services
	Books Borrowed	$
	Magazines Borrowed	$
	Movies Borrowed	$
	Audio Books Borrowed	$
	Wireless Internet Hours	$
	Interlibrary Loan	$
	Meeting Room Use per Hour	$
	Auditorium Use per Hour	$
	Adult Programs and Classes Attended	$
	Children's Programs Attended	$
	Hours of Computer Use	$
	Newspaper Articles	$
	Full Text Databases Used	$
		$

 

The calculator worksheet has been adapted from the downloadable spreadsheet, originally provided by the Massachusetts Library Association and then adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library. Maine State Library added extra accessibility coding and reformatting for ease of reading online. This spreadsheet requires either Microsoft Excel or the Excel Viewer.

Comments

We'd love to hear what value you arrived at!

• Contact us at askreference@cityoffargo.com or use this form

How did we get these values?

Some of the values are estimates based on experience, others are culled from exact sources. Please take a look at the table below to see where we got the values in the Library Use Calculator.

A list of estimated or average values with explanation

Item	Estimated Retail Value	Values Explained
Book Borrowed	$20.00	Estimated cost of a new hardcover book
Magazine Borrowed	$4.95	Estimated cost to purchase a popular magazine
Video Borrowed	$1.90	Cost of a three day new release rental at a local video store
Audio Books Borrowed	$25.00	Average cost of an audiobook at Amazon.com
Wireless Internet	$10.00	Cost of a day pass from T-Mobile
Interlibrary Loan	$40.00	Estimated cost to order a hard to find book from an online used bookseller
Meeting Room Use per Hour	$50.00	Estimate
Auditorium Use per Hour	$250.00	Estimate
Program/Class Attended - Adult	$30.00	Cost of a class from Moorhead Community Education
Program Attended - Children	$42.00	Cost of a "Family Fun" class from Moorhead Community Education
Computer Use, e.g., Internet and MS Word per hour	$12.00	Hourly rate from FedEx Kinkos
Newspapers Online Articles Viewed	$2.95	Per article rate from in-forum.com
Other Database	$12.95	Cost for a monthly subscription to ancestry.com