Respondents were surveyed about their attitude toward public libraries and the extent to which they value the presence of public libraries in their communities. Almost all respondents felt that public libraries contribute in a meaningful way to the quality of life in their community, and that funding public libraries was a good use of tax revenue. These results are not surprising, inasmuch as the overwhelming number of survey respondents were regular library users. However, a recent statewide survey of Wisconsin residents, which was prepared for the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC) included a random representative sample of both library users and non-users indicates that even among the population as a whole, the vast majority of Wisconsin residents value their public libraries ... Although the number of respondents who "strongly" agreed was higher among the NorthStar survey, which included fewer non-library users than the WPLC survey, more than 85% of respondents to both surveys agreed that libraries enhance quality of life, and support funding libraries with their tax dollars (p. 46).
