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Summary State Library Data for 2001 Public Libraries

What follows is a table of state summary data for the five variables much like the similar table by regions. I think you can look at it as a list of a lot of numbers or you can take a broader view. Think about it: all these states have public libraries but look at all the variation in how the several states choose to run their libraries. New York has the most libraries (750) and these libraries serve a median population of 5,400. California, our largest state, by contrast, has fewer libraries (179) serving a median population of almost 70,000. Iowa has the second largest number of libraries, the median number of population served is fewer than 2,000. Iowa has fewer people than the other two and these people are spread around so if the population is to get library service, these many libraries would have to be located in smaller population centers and they have fewer books. Georgia also has a substantial rural population but reports fewer (57) much larger libraries and Iowa.

These differences are worthy of study because we may find that some things work better than others and, too, there are differences determined by demographics, geography, state income, and history. It would be helpful to generate a model that helps disentangle the many threads that were woven into a warp and woof of public libraries in the US.

State BKVOL POPU_LSA TOTINCM in $ TOTOPEXP in $ TOTSTAFF
  Mean Median Mean Median Mean Median Mean Median Mean Median
Alabama (N=207) 42,098 20,735 21,484 6,364 329,138 87,978 326,034 86,050 7.5 3.0
Alaska (N=86) 26,595 10,700 7,290 730 275,361 22,643 269,838 23,956 3.8 0.6
Arizona (N=35) 250,283 80,458 146,310 51,335 3,379,591 671,206 3,194,240 592,415 55.4 13.0
Arkansas (N=43) 130,535 95,665 60,658 53,247 953,944 699,474 843,500 570,932 18.2 13.5
California (N=179) 382,397 156,857 194,413 69,510 5,020,005 2,051,987 4,554,235 1,854,823 65.8 28.6
Colorado (N=116) 96,211 23,504 36,565 6,284 1,447,502 172,758 1,314,357 146,080 20.7 3.7
Connecticut (N=194) 73,531 46,740 21,458 13,190 777,777 375,786 713,466 333,170 12.1 6.8
Delaware (N=37) 40,069 27,312 21,178 14,000 434,033 281,125 398,838 251,813 6.5 4.5
District of Columbia (N=1) 2,471,510 2,471,510 571,822 571,822 28,575,128 28,575,128 27,222,928 27,222,928 350.0 350.0
Florida (N=72) 429,109 148,675 229,893 82,017 5,453,167 1,860,630 5,054,472 1,691,375 90.0 39.3
Georgia (N=57) 265,668 162,252 136,977 79,516 2,734,527 1,036,146 2,543,799 1,099,150 47.4 22.3
Guam (N=1) 228,881 228,881 154,623 154,623 1,213,178 1,213,178 1,106,086 1,106,086 24.0 24.0
Hawaii (N=1) 3,195,040 3,195,040 1,211,537 1,211,537 23,876,334 23,876,334 24,192,389 24,192,389 520.1 520.1
Idaho (N=106) 34,281 17,062 10,715 3,247 247,558 70,931 236,439 56,618 5.5 2.1
Illinois (N=629) 66,510 25,781 17,996 5,422 811,196 166,266 685,899 122,483 10.7 3.2
Indiana (N=239) 92,655 38,236 24,252 8,516 1,026,122 321,283 969,461 280,781 18.4 7.0
Iowa (N=537) 21,532 11,575 5,440 1,941 138,692 36,744 133,991 34,503 2.9 1.1
Kansas (N=321) 32,944 13,384 6,974 1,322 244,451 31,640 234,859 31,460 5.5 1.0
Kentucky (N=116) 68,024 39,493 34,525 18,098 688,567 276,963 607,078 231,460 13.3 6.6
Louisiana (N=65) 166,926 86,294 68,873 33,261 1,724,121 773,094 1,509,162 616,324 32.1 13.9
Maine (N=273) 22,156 13,848 4,314 2,299 104,171 31,741 101,045 28,100 2.6 0.8
Maryland (N=24) 638,441 216,324 218,780 87,626 7,622,483 2,159,606 7,390,771 2,049,032 125.9 46.0
Massachusetts (N=371) 83,586 42,742 17,110 8,835 606,990 280,621 578,138 267,381 10.8 5.7
Michigan (N=381) 71,359 31,002 26,123 9,418 864,261 201,910 749,193 171,252 12.3 4.2
Minnesota (N=140) . . . . . . . . . .
Mississippi (N=49) 114,586 87,122 56,920 39,826 763,116 477,486 698,243 444,739 24.5 15.0
Missouri (N=150) 132,337 32,765 34,189 8,774 1,135,011 174,772 940,796 132,101 18.7 3.1
Montana (N=79) 33,233 19,605 11,396 4,299 195,249 71,153 161,777 53,552 4.1 1.8
Nebraska (N=272) 25,623 11,985 5,092 883 163,613 27,390 154,923 25,314 3.4 0.7
Nevada (N=23) 190,508 46,050 86,997 14,966 2,734,268 296,098 2,302,560 259,648 33.4 5.9
New Hampshire (N=229) 24,730 16,559 5,914 3,197 162,925 61,759 157,803 61,895 3.0 1.5
New Jersey (N=309) 105,257 60,729 29,333 12,300 1,077,844 531,004 1,045,946 512,137 17.3 8.4
New Mexico (N=80) 54,357 15,893 19,544 2,680 382,288 101,641 369,841 90,298 8.1 3.0
New York (N=750) 104,728 23,081 25,218 5,358 1,203,662 134,512 1,103,938 121,583 17.3 2.9
North Carolina (N=76) 209,417 133,561 106,393 75,620 2,057,560 1,198,066 1,913,740 1,095,740 38.2 22.3
North Dakota (N=82) 26,312 15,150 6,724 1,448 107,774 16,576 99,817 16,532 2.5 0.8
Ohio (N=250) 188,351 74,127 45,413 19,283 2,729,647 913,910 2,342,373 742,136 39.3 15.1
Oklahoma (N=115) 59,891 21,265 24,848 3,282 606,870 67,891 539,805 68,571 10.3 2.2
Oregon (N=125) 71,642 33,830 24,881 7,600 912,659 216,016 935,829 195,120 13.7 4.4
Pennsylvania (N=459) 61,136 27,868 26,385 11,891 605,189 148,328 596,097 142,776 10.9 3.8
Rhode Island (N=48) 84,817 49,075 26,796 19,145 773,499 306,198 748,580 292,511 13.3 6.2
South Carolina (N=41) 201,475 117,612 98,409 61,351 1,849,498 743,537 1,831,276 715,925 37.6 16.1
South Dakota (N=126) 24,635 15,864 4,800 1,262 156,913 30,699 134,073 30,278 3.1 1.0
Tennessee (N=184) 54,785 18,157 30,210 12,004 411,909 63,197 400,209 56,982 9.9 2.0
Texas (N=540) 66,157 24,664 35,843 8,431 591,397 98,085 575,196 91,525 11.9 3.0
Utah (N=70) 86,633 32,949 31,902 8,444 813,070 114,412 814,883 114,412 14.0 2.8
Vermont (N=188) 15,054 10,437 3,558 1,784 74,206 33,192 73,677 31,041 1.6 0.8
Virgin Islands (N=1) 170,074 170,074 108,612 108,612 2,613,037 2,613,037 2,520,643 2,520,643 38.0 38.0
Virginia (N=90) 207,327 104,330 78,596 36,719 2,218,419 750,753 2,151,819 724,124 36.7 15.0
Washington (N=65) 261,586 43,359 89,877 11,860 3,756,215 531,879 3,387,882 507,069 49.9 7.6
West Virginia (N=97) 50,717 28,118 18,499 8,925 282,428 92,749 255,642 76,276 7.1 3.0
Wisconsin (N=379) 49,308 20,839 14,249 4,907 440,271 117,458 425,489 108,931 7.8 2.5
Wyoming (N=23) 104,995 79,312 21,469 14,573 684,350 429,239 645,722 352,330 15.2 10.0

Minnesota did not report its library data in 2001. States (as defined by this survey) include several where N=1. The District of Columbia, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands all have one official library reporting to the NCES survey. In these cases, the means and medians will be the same.

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May 12, 2004
Analysis of 2001 data
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