In The Impact of Literacy and Library Services on Crime Rates and Public Safety, the EveryLibrary Institute demonstrates the impact that libraries have on literacy levels and the long-term influence of literacy on educational and professional achievement. They demonstrate how public and school libraries can positively impact reading and literacy levels and help reduce crime in their communities. They also propose some policy and funding propositions that could lead to lower rates of crime and incarceration through better funding for libraries.

This report cites Debra E. Kachel’s and my March 2018 article for Phi Delta Kappan magazine entitled Why School Librarians Matter: what years of research tell us. It also cites Stephen Krashen’s 2011 article for the New England Reading Association Journal entitled Protecting Students Against the Effects of Poverty: Libraries. In that article, Krashen cites our first Colorado study: The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement (reported in a 2004 School Library Media Annual article) and references its many successor studies by us and others.