Going to the Library Makes You $2,282 Happier Per Year

Via Annalise Quinn’s Book News report for NPR, The UK government’s “Department for Media, Culture & Sport” — sounds like a fun department! — has conducted a study to see just how much perceived value we get from participating in sports, the arts, and the library.

Just how happy DOES the library make us, in dollars? Money being the metric system’s preferred unit of measurement for happiness.

The numbers were derived by comparing how much of an increase in income a participant would need to get the same boost in “well-being” they get from going to the library. Turns out going to the library regularly made participants feel, on average, £113, or $190 a month richer. Or more accurately, libraries gave them $190/month in “perceived value,” which amounts to $2,282/year.

In conclusion: ask for a raise! And if that doesn’t work, get thee to a library.

Photo: Reading Tom

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