[Publib] America's Star Libraries: the LJ Index of Public Library Service

[Steve Benson]

Let the debate begin . . .

My initial response, after a quick review of the ratings, is that some
libraries I'm very familiar with were rated incorrectly.  Libraries A, B and
C, all in a common budget category, were in the wrong order.  There were
measures and intangables not taken into consideration that clearly would
affect how patrons would express their preferences.  While I recognize flaws
in any ranking system and understand the criticisms leveled at the Hennen
ratings, somehow his calculations seemed to better capture relative quality
amongst the libraries I'm familiar with.

I suggest that the explanations accompanying the LJ rankings fall short of
sound reasoning in some places. The explaination of the focus on output
measures and the exclusion of input measures included a caution that
measures such as staffing or materials budgets are figures we may not want
to tout to the public lest they be seen as an excess ripe for budget
cuts.  The number of staff can relate to the quality of interactions between
staff and patrons - more staff allows you to spend more time with each
patron.  The materials budget directly relates to a size and depth of
collections which shouldn't be ignored in any measure of library quality.

It's a good thing to have multiple rating systems because it puts pressure
on each to justify it's assumptions and refine itself.  So, congrats to the
folks that have put together the LJ ratings and a renewed thanks to Mr.
Hennen for his efforts.

Steve Benson
Director of Library Services
Richardson (Tx) Public Library



On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Miller, Rebecca (RBI-US) <
miller at reedbusiness.com> wrote:

>  Colleagues,
> The new *LJ* Index of Public Library Service, by Ray Lyons and Keith Curry
> Lance, rates 7,115 public libraries on four per capita output measures
> (circulation, visits, program attendance, public Internet use) and gives
> stars (think Michelin guides) to the top libraries in each category.
> Check it out at
> http://www.libraryjournal.com/ljindex2009
>
> Regards,
> Rebecca
>
> Rebecca T. Miller
> Executive Editor
> Library Journal
> www.libraryjournal.com
>
>
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