How valuable is your library?
Take a moment and think about your library use over the past month. Enter those numbers into the form below. This page will calculate a total cost you would have had to pay for those items if they weren’t offered by the Metropolitan Library System.
The average household in Oklahoma County pays about $70 in ad valorem property taxes each year to fund the Metropolitan Library System. You can see how quickly just a few uses of the Library quickly exceeds what you would have to pay out of pocket for the same products or services elsewhere.
Library Value Calculator
- In the left column, enter the number of times per month you or your family use each library material or service.
- The estimated retail value of each material or service will be calculated on the right.
- The total value of your library use is shown at the bottom of the worksheet.
Tip: Use the Tab key to navigate between boxes and do not use commas.
Estimate Values
|
Library Service |
Value of Service |
Based On |
|
Adult Books Borrowed |
$17.00 |
Amazon.com average price |
|
Young Adult Books Borrowed |
$12.00 |
Amazon.com average price |
|
Children Books Borrowed |
$17.00 |
Amazon.com average price |
|
Audiobooks Borrowed |
$10.00 |
Audible.com download average |
|
Interlibrary Loan Requests |
$25.00 |
Amazon.com average price plus shipping |
|
Audiobooks or eBooks Downloaded |
$10.00 |
Estimated B&N/Amazon.com/Audible.com average |
|
MP3s Downloaded |
$1.29 |
Estimated iTunes/Amazon.com average per song |
|
Magazines Downloaded |
$5.00 |
Estimated newstand purchase price average |
|
Magazines Read |
$5.00 |
Estimated newstand purchase price average |
|
Newspapers Read |
$12.00 |
Oklahoman print and online subscription (monthly) |
|
Movies Borrowed |
$4.00 |
Estimated Netflix average |
|
CDs Borrowed |
$10.00 |
Estimated average cost of album purchase on iTunes |
|
Adult Programs Attended |
$15.00 |
Entertainment/program admission fee - estimated average per adult |
|
Young Adult Programs Attended |
$12.00 |
Entertainment/program admission fee - estimated average per youth |
|
Children's Programs Attended |
$7.00 |
Entertainment/program admission fee - estimated average per child |
|
Public Computer Access (per hour) |
$12.00 |
FedEx Office price |
|
WiFi Access (per day) |
$8.00 |
Estimated daily cost for paid WiFi at major hotels & airports |
|
Database Searches |
$20.00 |
Average cost for online article search |
|
Reference Assistance |
$7.00 |
Average library cost |