Rhode Island Public Library Use: a Visualization Project

How do Rhode Islanders use their public library system? This project offers one way to answer that question, by mapping public library patrons' mobility across the state.

To access the maps, click on the below links (you must use your browser's back arrow to return to this page):

RI Library Activity Based on Race

RI Library Activity Based on Median Household Income

What is patron mobility?

Patron mobility describes how RI library-card holders make use of the statewide public library network. We can approximate patron mobility by looking at "nonresident circulation," or items checked out at libraries by patrons who do not call that library "home." If a library has high patron mobility that means its patrons, as a group, make use of many libraries other than their home one. Low mobility means that patrons generally use only their home library and those very near by.

Mapping patron mobility library by library allows us to see patterns of usage across the entire Ocean State Library network. It can illustrate discrepancies in usage and, more importantly, render visible inequities in access.

How do the maps work?

To see a specific library's level of patron mobility, first select what background map you want: the first provides information on race, the second on income-level. Next, choose a library from the right hand menu.

Once you've selected a library, the map will display its patron mobility, that is, what other libraries those patrons visited (based on "nonresident circulation") and with what regularity.

Circles represent the frequency of activity, and the larger a circle then the more frequently patrons from the selected library checked books out at this non-home library. Clicking on a circle reveals the number of circulation transactions at that location. The circle's radius is capped and only approximates frequency of usage and not geography (a circle should not be interpreted as encompassing the area of a library's patron base). In the race map, the circle's color represents the percentage of White persons to total population in an area. In the economic map, the circles are all colored black; here the background color indicates median household income based on the latest available Census Tract.

Initial findings

At first glance, the findings appear predictable: Rhode Islanders don't move all that much. Patrons from smaller/medium-sized libraries hover around their home libraries, and patrons from large cities traverse more area. But, looking deeper, patron immobility coincides with deeper social issues. Immobility, that is, appears motivated by racial and socioeconomic factors.

Patrons from poor or "majority minority" libraries seem almost frozen.

Providence's branches of Rochambeau and Olneyville offer useful contrasts. Rochambeau, serving some of Providence's most affluent neighborhoods, sees patrons move throughout the city as well as in suburbs, presumably for recreation and work. Yet Olneyville's patrons barely use their own library, never mind those anywhere else. These data corroborate the segregation identified within the state's public school system, as reported in The Providence Journal.

This frozen pattern extends beyond Providence city lines.

Contrast Barrington with Central Falls. Both communities have similar population sizes. But Barrington's patrons roam widely, from Lincoln in the north to Little Compton, Newport, and Tiverton in the south. Patrons of Central Falls, meanwhile, frequent their own library and neighboring Pawtucket's. Perhaps tellingly, these residents rarely visit their own affluent neighbor, Cumberland. Similar patterns are found in other poor communities.

In general, wealthier and white patrons move in ways that poorer, minority patrons do not or cannot.

Essentially, these latter patrons are stuck in their home libraries where they cannot receive reliable, robust library services. The problem is magnified in Providence where the majority of RI's minorities live and where the library system itself is segregated, and the Providence Community Library struggles to sustain nine facilities.

Being frozen in place has negative consequences presumably, especially when considering that minority majority communities receive less library funding than wealthier communities. A recent report summarized the longstanding argument that the state's aid formula disadvantages poorer (and, by extension, minority majority) communities. The maps make visible the access-or lack thereof-library patrons have to the statewide library network. The inequalities, which appear part of larger structural issues, call for more attention.

Michael Carlozzi, 2018, contact = car lot see @ gmail dot com. You can use these data and maps wherever you'd like, pursuant to CC-BY-US. Maps created in R.