City Library System's Services Garner Third-Place Ranking in National Literacy Study

St. Louis, MO - The St. Louis Public Library is proud to announce that it has continued its remarkable performance by earning a Third-Place ranking in the Library Category of the 2012 America's Most Literate Cities study conducted by Central Connecticut State University. This marks the ninth straight year that the city's library services have ranked in the top four among urban libraries in the U.S. (and the eighth time in the last nine years they have finished in the top three). The study focuses on cities with populations greater than 250,000. The City of St. Louis again ranked in the Top 10 with a 9^th place overall literacy score.  

St. Louis Public Library Executive Director Waller McGuire said, "It is a privilege to lead one of the nation's best public library systems. Our great national ranking in this study is earned by the people of St. Louis; you support and use your library. I also want to thank our staff members, who love the St. Louis Public Library and work hard to make it great. This has been a wonderful year for us, including the historic reopening of magnificent Central Library and Carondelet Branch. The coming year will see new innovations, programs, and materials in our libraries throughout St. Louis. Please visit us, bring your family, and make the St. Louis Public Library a regular part of your life. We have something to offer everyone."

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 fare in other quality-of-life surveys.

Dr. Miller first published the study online in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  To learn more about the America's Most Literate Cities study, click on http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=15616.

For details, call 314-539-0394.

# #  #