About the META Project
View the project goals, research questions and methodology.
META 1 is a multi-year research project begun in the fall of 2008 to provide (1) insight into the value of public libraries and (2) a robust model of the economic value of public libraries.
Over the past several years, many studies of the economic impact of libraries have been performed both in the U.S. and abroad. Almost all of these studies concentrated on two basic questions:
These studies show considerable diversity in the populations studied and the methodologies used.
The META project differs significantly from prior studies, while making extensive use of their findings. First, the META project has a broad scope that is neither population nor geographically specific. Second, rather than collecting new data, the META project uses meta-analysis techniques to draw conclusions developed by integrating the results of prior studies and probing them for patterns that will:
View the project goals, research questions and methodology.
See the journals and the internet resources used to locate public library valuation studies for use in the META project.
Download the Meta 1 White Paper and final analysis
Meet the principal researchers of the Meta Team