This news item expired on Saturday, July 31, 2010 so the information below could be outdated or incorrect.
The release of the annual Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings is widely anticipated by many librarians. The HAPLR Index provides a rough comparison of libraries based on several input and output measures. They include staffing levels, per-capita funding and numbers of library card holders, hours open, reference question counts and circulation of materials.
The scale was developed by Thomas Hennen, Jr. and utilizes data submitted by over 9,000 public libraries across the nation to the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The value of Mr. Hennen’s scale lies primarily in its weighing of a library’s inputs -- comparing per-capita operating support against what it actually produces, chiefly measured by circulation.
The recently released Hennen’s American Public Library ratings rank Buncombe County Public Libraries among the top libraries in the state of North Carolina.
Buncombe County Public Libraries stack up well when compared to other urban library systems in North Carolina. North Carolina has eight urban library systems that serve populations over 200,000 persons. The HAPLR scores for the urban library systems in North Carolina are:
- Durham 592
Wake 586
- Buncombe 579
- Cumberland 520
- Mecklenburg 508
- Forsyth 489
- Guilford 386
- Gaston 365
Library Director Ed Sheary noted that the statistics used to compute the new HAPLR Index pre-date the financial crash of 2008.
Before the crash, the highest ranked libraries were typically found in the Midwest, especially Ohio. Ohio libraries were largely state funded and more than a quarter of that funding was lost in 2009. The Mecklenburg County system in North Carolina, has for many years enjoyed the highest per-capita funding of the state’s larger systems. Mecklenburg County may lose as much as one-half of its current budget.
The HAPLR Index for next year may well look significantly different as the results of library funding reductions begin to appear.
For more information on Buncombe County Public Libraries, check out buncombecounty.org/library or visit your neighborhood library.