sevfiv Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 (edited) HBJ article:http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...f=et63&hbx=e_dustudy site:http://www.ccsu.edu/Amlc/and another compilation:http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/27008 Edited November 30, 2005 by sevfiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Interesting. At first I didn't see what internet literacy had to do with it, but they looked at -Number of library Internet connection per 10,000 library service population -Number of commercial and public wireless Internet access points per capita -Number of Internet book orders per capita -Percentage of adult population that has read newspaper on Internet It says that Austin and San Jose were the two cities that dramatically improved their rankings when internet literacy was included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 I think there may be a correlation between cold weather and literacy. Seattle, WA 1 - Minneapolis, MN 2 Washington, DC 3 Atlanta, GA 4 San Francisco, CA 5 Denver, CO 6 Boston, MA 7 Pittsburgh, PA 8 Cincinnati, OH 9.5 St. Paul, MN 9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Probably there is a relationship with the relative proportion of non-native or ESL population. The bottom 10:Los Angeles, CA 60 Long Beach, CA 61 Santa Ana, CA 62 Fresno, CA 63 San Antonio, TX 64 Bakersfield, CA 65 Anaheim, CA 66 Corpus Christi, TX 67 El Paso, TX 68 Stockton, CA 69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 I'm a bit skeptical about drawing conclusions about literacy from library internet connectiveness and newspaper circulation. From what I've observed, many library patrons are using the internet to further educate themselves about pornography. And the content, as well as the circulation, of the newspapers in question should also be noted. For example, what's the ratio of 'serious' pieces to those more geared towards entertainment? You'll note that the Houston Chronicle includes four pages of comic strips... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Another of the seemingly endless stream of tireless and meaningless "studies" based on questionable premises that get WAY too much attention from the media, especially when they portray Houston in a negative light...In "studies" such as this, Houston is hurt by having a large central city relative to the size of the metro area. As is so often the case, the "study" is worthless, because it compares apples to oranges, and in the end does not show what it purports to show. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted November 30, 2005 Author Share Posted November 30, 2005 Library Support, Holdings, and Utilization These five variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking: 1. Number of school media personnel per 1,000 public school students 2. Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population 3. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service service population 4. Number of circulations per capita of library service population 5. Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service populationi thought this was interesting - and i don't think this particular premise is too questionable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 (edited) Library Support, Holdings, and Utilization These five variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking: 1. Number of school media personnel per 1,000 public school students 2. Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population 3. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service service population 4. Number of circulations per capita of library service population 5. Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service populationi thought this was interesting - and i don't think this particular premise is too questionableThat might be one of the less-questionable categories. But even here, there are lots of questions raised. E.g., In cities such as Houston, where there are both county and city library system branches, did they count both systems or just the city library? Why did they apparently count media personnel in the schools but not numbers of volumes held in school libraries? I must say they covered this category better than the bookseller category. In libraries they counted both the number of branches and the size and volume of "business" conducted by those libabries. In the bookseller category they just counted the number of booksellers, paying no attention whatsoever to the size or volume of business of those booksellers. So a corner bookstore that sells 5 books a day counts the same as a Bookstop on Alabama which no doubt sells hundreds or thousands per day. Very curoius way to measure. Edited November 30, 2005 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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