In FY2025, Orange County Public Library recorded 632,712 uses of its collections, a ten-year high. The county spent about $35.94 per resident on library service, or roughly $3 a month. What did your own library use add up to?
Move the sliders below to add up a year of your own library use.
See How It Adds Up
Different people use the library in different ways. Choose an illustrative profile to see one possible pattern of use, then adjust the calculator below to reflect your own.
Calculate the Value of Your Library Use
Adjust the quantities below to reflect how you use the library. The calculator estimates what comparable books, services, programs, and resources might cost elsewhere.
Estimated annual value of your library use
How These Estimates Are Calculated
The calculator uses service values based on the Massachusetts Library Association methodology used by the American Library Association's Library Value Calculator. Each figure estimates the retail price or reasonable replacement value of obtaining a comparable item or service outside the library.
These figures illustrate the economic value of library use. They do not represent guaranteed cash savings, and the cost of comparable goods and services may vary.
| Service | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Adult books | $17.00 | Average Amazon retail price |
| Young adult books | $12.00 | Average Amazon retail price |
| Children's books | $17.00 | Average Amazon retail price |
| DVDs / movies | $4.00 | Estimated streaming rental average |
| Audiobooks (CDs) | $9.95 | Estimated audiobook purchase price (digital retail proxy) |
| Interlibrary loans | $25.00 | Estimated purchase and delivery price for a comparable item |
| eBooks | $15.00 | Estimated average Amazon and Barnes & Noble retail price |
| eAudiobooks | $9.95 | Estimated audiobook purchase price (digital retail proxy) |
| Streaming video titles | $4.00 | Estimated streaming rental average |
| Database searches | $19.95 | Estimated cost of comparable individual article access online; assumes each search stands in for one purchased article |
| Adult programs | $15.00 | Estimated admission price for a comparable adult program |
| Young adult / teen programs | $12.00 | Estimated admission price for a comparable youth program |
| Children's programs & storytimes | $7.00 | Estimated admission price for a comparable children's program |
| Computer & internet hours | $12.00 | Comparable commercial computer-rental and internet access rate |
| Reference & research assistance | $7.00 | Estimated value per reference interaction (sector cost-per-transaction proxy) |
| Pages printed | $0.20 | Comparable FedEx Office black-and-white printing rate |
| Notary services | $10.00 | Maximum fee permitted under North Carolina law at the time reviewed |
How is the $35.94 figure calculated?
The Orange County Public Library reported $3,303,484 in total operating expenditures and a legal service area population of 91,929 in the North Carolina State Library Annual Survey. Dividing operating expenditures by the population served produces an average public investment of approximately $35.94 per resident per year, or about $3.00 per month.
This is an average measure of public investment, not an estimate of the amount any individual resident personally pays in taxes.
Replacement values last reviewed: July 2026. Operating expenditures, service-area population, and library activity figures reflect the FY2025 reporting period of the NC State Library Annual Survey.
