Library Technology Guides

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused enormous disruption in the library community. Libraries closed their physical facilities for extended periods, gradually phasing in services through curbside-pickup or other programs that limited physical contacted between library workers and patrons. Libraries extended and enhanced their online content and services, making extensive efforts to continue to meet the needs of their patrons and communities during these periods. Library associations, such as the American Library Association shifted conferences and other events to virtual formats, resulting in substantially less income compared to in-person events. Library vendors supported libraries through this period through new technologies and services, such as enhanced digital services and applications to manage the request and fulfillment of curbside pickup programs. These organizations received some financial relief through loans offered through the Paycheck Protection Program of the CARES act administered by the Small Business Administration. This report describes the loans received and forgiven though this program for library-related organizations.

The Paycheck Protection Program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration made loans available to eligible business as a response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program began on March 2020 and ended on May 21, 2021. Two loans were allowed per business over the two year term of the program. According to ProPublica, this program provided a total of $793 billion through 11.5 million loans.

The requirements for loans and forgiveness are described in the documentation provided for the loan program:

The Paycheck Protection Program established by the CARES Act, is implemented by the Small Business Administration with support from the Department of the Treasury. This program provides small businesses with funds to pay up to 8 weeks of payroll costs including benefits. Funds can also be used to pay interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.

The Paycheck Protection Program prioritizes millions of Americans employed by small businesses by authorizing up to $659 billion toward job retention and certain other expenses.

Small businesses and eligible nonprofit organizations, Veterans organizations, and Tribal businesses described in the Small Business Act, as well as individuals who are self-employed or are independent contractors, are eligible if they also meet program size standards.

Help for the library sector

Loans totaling at least $122,603,458 were made to library-related organizations. Through this program, loans were made to libraries of all types, library associations, and library vendors. In almost all cases, these loans were forgiven, providing a financial infusion to these organizations during the most disruptive phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data sources

All data related to the Paycheck Protection Program has been made publicly available through the US Small Business Administration in .csv format. All 12 csv files were downloaded and and imported into Excel. Each of the files was filtered according to the word library in the name of the borrower and transferred into a new worksheet. This worksheet was then reviewed manually to eliminate rows that corresponded to other types of organizations but were not libraries. Many restaurants and bars, for example, have "Library" in their name.

ProPublica provides a searchable interface for the PPP data. This interface provides a convenient way to search for the loans given to any given organization and whether it was forgiven. This interface was used to search for each of the major organizations providing services to libraries. Search results are limited to 100 items.

Loans to Libraries

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions for libraries. Almost all public libraries closed during the initial period of the pandemic prior to the availability of vaccines. In many cases these disruptions meant a financial hardship, which was eased through the availability of the PPP loans.

The loans for public libraries were made through their associated friends organizations and foundations since government agencies may not directly be eligible. The SBA data sets were download and processed to identify the libraries receiving loans, the aggregate amounts loaned, and the aggregate amounts forgiven.

An Excel file is available for the subset of records representing loans made to libraries.

As shown by the table below, libraries received $92,920,004.82 in loans of which $90,327,506.43 was forgiven. At least 1,272 libraries or their supporting organizations received PPP loans. Ten of these libraries received over $1 million. The largest loan was to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for $4,002,000.

Library Service Organizations (Commercial and Non-Profit)

At least 23 organizations providing services to libraries received PPP loans, totaling $21,202,227. This list is not comprehensive but focused on those within the scope of Library Technology Guides. This organization include both commercial and non-profit corporations.

Library Associations

Several national library associations received loans through the PPP program, all of which were forgiven. Especially notable is the American Library Association which received $6,213,035 of relief through the two years of this program.

The American Library Association was especially hard hit by the pandemic. The ALA Annual Conference, one of the major sources of income for the organization, was held virtually in 2020 and 2022. These virtual conferences generated far less income than in-person events, through fewer attendee registrations and the absence of the vendor exhibition.