Panorama Project project lead Guy LeCharles Gonzalez has written an op-ed for Publishers Weekly’s ALA Midwinter issue (“Data Points,” 12/16/19) in which he declares it’s time for publishers and other stakeholders to more accurately measure the role public libraries play in the book business.

Rather than making strategic business decisions based on limited data and unsupported claims, why not uncover what’s really happening? I believe that three of the biggest known unknowns about libraries are entirely knowable, if only there was a collective will to start shedding a productive light on them:
1. How much of public libraries’ estimated $1.5 billion materials budget goes toward trade publishing’s estimated $12 billion in projected revenue for 2019, and where does that rank against other channels?
2. How much marketing value do public libraries create for publishers through readers’ advisory services, physical shelf and online catalogue visibility, hosted author events, and community book clubs?
3. How do library patrons discover and acquire the books they read and in which formats, and how does that fit with other media consumption and buying habits?

Read the full op-ed in the 12/16/19 issue of Publishers Weekly, or online.