The U of T’s Martin Prosperity Institute will tell Toronto, in dollar figures, the worth of its public library system.

The economic impact study, a first of its kind in Canada, will be funded by the Toronto Public Library Foundation with contributions from TD Bank Group and the estate of Norman G. Hinton. No city money will be spent.

Councillor Paul Ainslie, chair of library board, said the idea crystallized for him during 2013 budget debate as community groups used economic multipliers to demonstrate the wisdom of city funding.

Ainslie noted the system’s 19 million users borrow 32 million items annually. Some patrons are job-seekers using computers, while others are students doing research.

“Can we get somebody to look at the library and come up with some kind of economic validation for what we do?” Ainslie said he wondered. “It’s also useful when we go back to the city at budget time and say, ‘We need more computers, because they are at 90 per cent capacity, or we need to build more branches or hire more staff’.

“We can sing the praises of being the highest-per-capita used library in North America but if we can show the economic impact of benefit of having a library, that will help us persuade council.”

Most of the library system’s $180 million annual budget comes from the city. The foundation quickly volunteered to fund the study, which is expected to be completed by fall, he added.

Kimberly Silk, a data librarian at the Martin Prosperity Institute, part of the Rotman School of Management, said the study will produce a dollar value although it’s important to acknowledge there is more to libraries than that.

“We’re in an economic climate where everything that we spend on the public good needs to be valuated,” Silk said.

She said the institute will question, among other things, whether libraries’ economic impact is greater in so-called priority neighbourhoods, where incomes are lower and recent immigrants and others rely heavily on public facilities.

The issue of the economic value of libraries — beyond other considerations — arose in 2011 during budget deliberations, when Councillor Doug Ford opined that he’d close his neighbourhood branch “in a heartbeat.” A flurry of appalled condemnation from Toronto’s library-loving public — including literary icon Margaret Atwood — followed, leading to tens of thousands of signatures on a petition, lengthy deputations and ultimately, a strong affirmation of support for the library system.