St. Louis Public Library

The St. Louis Public Library is proud to announce that it has continued its impressive performance by again earning a Second-Place ranking in the Library Category of the 2011 America’s Most Literate Cities study conducted by Central Connecticut State University. This marks the third consecutive year (and the fifth time in six years) that the City Library has earned the runner-up spot. Additionally, 2011 is the seventh straight year that the St. Louis Public Library has ranked as one of the top four urban libraries in the U.S. The study focuses on cities with populations greater than 250,000. The City of St. Louis finished an impressive 8^th place overall, up from 9^th last year.

St. Louis Public Library Executive Director Waller McGuire said, “At a time when some people question the relevance of libraries in the 21^st century, it is gratifying to see that the answer is a resounding ‘Yes.’ Libraries are a cornerstone of great civilizations and great communities. I firmly believe that they will continue that role for a very long time to come. It is a privilege for me to be able to lead one of the nation’s best libraries into a bright, exciting future.”

The Library category is based upon library support, holdings, and utilization. Four variables were considered for the final score:

1.     Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population.

2.     Volumes held in the library per capita of library service population.

3.     Number of circulations per capita of library service population.

4.     Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service population.

The study attempts to capture the literacy of the United States’ major cities by focusing on six key indicators: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources. In addition, Central Connecticut State University President Dr. Jack Miller also focuses on how well the most literate cities fared in other quality-of-life surveys.

To learn more about the America’s Most Literate Cities study, click on http://www.ccsu.edu/uploaded//AMLC_2011-2012_rele.pdf

Dr. Miller first published the study online in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. For details, call 314-539-0394.

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