Libraries of the American West

Some interesting statistics from The Economist:

  • The average Wyoming resident checked out nine books in 2005-06, compared with an average of five in California and two in Washington, DC.
  • Three-quarters of Laramie county’s 86,000 residents hold library cards.

    The Economist says “The land of mountains and cattle boasts some of America’s best public libraries.” They cite examples of both large and small libraries in Wyoming and “the conservative rural heartlands,” Laramie, Cheyenne and Burns in southern Wyoming.