In 2023, with funding from the Mellon Foundation, BPL launched a research project to collect and study cardholder signup policies from public libraries across the nation. Research findings have been summarized in a report made available to the library field in spring 2024.
Using these findings, BPL has convened a diverse working group of public library leaders to develop a policy framework of guiding principles and best practices for cardholder registration. The overall goal is to provide public library staff, leaders, boards and community stakeholders with the tools to have informed conversations about cardholder signup policies that align with the library profession’s stated values of access and intellectual freedom. The policy framework will be made available in summer 2025.
See the Research
BPL, with market research firm Avenue M Group, collected and analyzed cardholder signup data from over 1,800 public libraries across the United States.
Access the Data
Explore the data collected from the research via an interactive dashboard. The raw dataset is available by request, below.