Stellar libraries in Midwest, disgraces in miserly South

David Rothman writes “OK. You already know about the ’04 edition of Hennenâ€™s American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR). But which are the winners and sinners among the states? Turns out that Midwestern libraries shine as a group if you go by the averages, while Southern libraries are horror stories. The best library state is Ohio; the worst, Mississippi. More at TeleRead.”

November 21, 2004 by Blake Uncategorized 7

pompano says:

November 22, 2004 at 9:15 pm

Miserly?
In a recent survey (released within the past couple weeks) Mississippi came out on top with being the most generous state in regards to charitable giving. Other Southern states also came out on top and the New England states were dead last.

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David Rothman says:

November 22, 2004 at 9:35 pm

Southern misers indeed
> In a recent survey (released within the past couple weeks) Mississippi came out on top with being the most generous state in regards to charitable giving. Other Southern states also came out on top and the New England states were dead last.

Thanks for the information. I’d love to learn more about the survey. Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were credible. If nothing else, in Mississippi, Netscape founder Jim Clark’s family would make the meter go off the scale.

Still, we’re talking about public money as well, and, at least as a region, the South is a disgrace in in public library funding and many other respect. The South has many good traits. Generosity toward libraries just isn’t one of them.

As for New England, well, who says those people can’t be skinflints as well? Still, with public money included, the libraries there come out far ahead of the Southern libraries in rankings that reflect resources available.

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Makhno says:

November 22, 2004 at 9:47 pm

Re:Miserly?
Could you share what survey you refer to?

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Trixie says:

November 22, 2004 at 10:44 pm

Re:Miserly?
I would guess that pompano is referring to something like “How Americans Give”, by the Chronicle of Philanthropy (http://philanthropy.com/stats/). Unfortunately, it’s subscription access only so I can’t be sure. There’s also “Giving Ranked by State” with data for 2001. I don’t see anything on their site that was released within the past couple weeks, though.

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GregS* says:

November 23, 2004 at 12:35 am

Re:Southern misers indeed
If I’m not mistaken the survey in question does label us New Englanders as skinflints.

Be careful about saying “generosity toward libraries”. Like you said, its about public money vs private. Southerners just like to keep local and state government on a low-calorie diet. Its up to the library leadership in those areas to 1. make the most of what they do get and 2. bring in the private money.

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David Rothman says:

November 24, 2004 at 10:48 pm

Re:Southern misers indeed
But, Greg, these are public libraries. Shouldn’t they be entitled to enough public money rather than having to worry so much about private fund-raising? Literacy can be most cost-effective.

I do believe there are ways in which public libraries can be more efficient, particularly with better and more extensive use of technology. And, yes, private money can and should help. But that is still no excuse for the miserliness that Southerner taxpayers show toward their public libraries.

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pompano says:

December 8, 2004 at 11:02 pm

Re:Miserly?
No, it was the Catalogue for Philanthropy. It is called the Generosity Index. Here is their web site:

http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org/

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