Economic pressure on public library budgets has risen since the late-20th century as government funding has declined. Under increasing financial pressure, creating a procedure for how public libraries can provide fulfilling services to residents is one of the essential issues in public library management. As a result, library districts are receiving much attention as a management model in response to financial deterioration of public sectors in the United States. Library districts are special-purpose local governments that have a tax levy and bond authority for library management. Recent studies have demonstrated that library districts’ revenues are more stable over the long term than those of other legal bases, such as general-purpose local governments and non-profit organizations in the United States. However, it is not easy to form a library district because it involves a tax increase for residents. Nevertheless, the number of library districts has increased since the late-20th century. Why do voters allow a tax levy for library management? In this study, we examined the opinions of residents through a qualitative content analysis, using the voters’ pamphlets distributed to residents at the time of the referendum for forming the library district. Specifically, we analyzed opinions of both voters in favor and opposed to creating a library district and identified their preferences. Our research results showed that residents held a common understanding of the significance of public libraries in the community. The debate revolved around how much burden the residents were willing to accept to provide library services.

自 20 世纪后期以来，随着政府资金的减少，公共图书馆预算的经济压力有所增加。在日益增加的财政压力下，制定公共图书馆如何为居民提供令人满意的服务的程序是公共图书馆管理的基本问题之一。因此，图书馆区作为应对美国公共部门财务恶化的管理模式而备受关注。图书馆区是具有特殊目的的地方政府，拥有图书馆管理的税收和债券管理权。最近的研究表明，从长远来看，图书馆区的收入比其他法律基础（例如美国的通用地方政府和非营利组织）的收入更稳定。然而，建立图书馆区并不容易，因为它涉及对居民的税收增加。尽管如此，自 20 世纪后期以来，图书馆区的数量有所增加。为什么选民允许对图书馆管理征税？在这项研究中，我们通过定性的内容分析来检查居民的意见，使用在全民公决建立图书馆区时分发给居民的选民小册子。具体来说，我们分析了支持和反对创建图书馆区的选民的意见，并确定了他们的偏好。我们的研究结果表明，居民对公共图书馆在社区中的重要性有着共同的理解。争论围绕着居民愿意接受多少负担来提供图书馆服务。