Valuing cultural public goods in times of pandemic: What happened to the libraries?

Abstract

Libraries are one of the most representative institutions of cultural heritage in that they are charged with safeguarding information, fostering knowledge and activating memory. Over the years, they have widened the scope of their functions to also become cultural centres geared towards dissemination and cultural creation, in addition to playing an ever more important role in terms of social interaction and inclusion. This paper seeks to estimate the economic and social value that people assign to public libraries in the city of Medellin (Colombia) which, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, were forced to temporarily halt their onsite services. The contingent valuation method was used, based on a virtual questionnaire aimed at users and non-users in order to estimate the potential value of the direct and passive use of libraries during the pandemic. In addition, certainty analysis was applied to evaluate the trend of stated contributions as reporting reliability increases. Relevant and significant positive willingness to pay was found, and was seen to be greater amongst users who were most sure of their valuations, whilst payments remained stable in the certainty range of non-users. The results highlight the key role played by libraries as local public goods, even during a pandemic and therefore, their function as a basic cultural service as well as of drivers of inclusion and urban change.