Library Value Calculator

Person holding cash and calculator

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

  1. In the left column, enter the number of times per month you or your family use each library material or service.
  2. The estimated retail value of each material or service will be calculated on the right.
  3. 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.

Input Your Use

Library Materials & Services

Value of Your Use


   $

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