Economic Value of Bukittinggi City Regional Public Library: Travel Cost Approach and Contingency Valuation

Regional public libraries deliver services without charging admission, making their benefits difficult to observe in local budget accounts. This study estimated the economic value of the Bukittinggi City Regional Public Library and examined correlates of annual visit frequency and willingness to pay (WTP) for voluntary contributions. A cross-sectional survey of 120 library visitors was analyzed using individual travel cost models estimated by ordinary least squares and Poisson regression with robust standard errors, alongside a split-sample contingent valuation survey analyzed with Tobit regression. Official records of 5,050 visits in 2025 were used for annual aggregation. Travel costs were negatively associated with visit frequency, whereas education and satisfaction were positively associated with it. Income, annual visits, and perceived benefits were positively associated with WTP; the bidding-format group reported lower WTP than the open-format group. The reported annual values were IDR 151.5–159.4 million using the travel cost method and IDR 19.6–44.0 million using contingent valuation. The estimates describe different components of users' value and remain sensitive to the aggregation base, on-site sampling, and question format.