Heights Libraries earns top rating from Library Journal

Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library system has once again received the highest possible rating in the Library Journal's 2011 Index of Public Library Service. The five-star rating is given to the top U. S. libraries each year.

Height Libraries has earned five stars in three out of the four years that Library Journal has published the ratings, starting in 2008. Libraries are categorized by yearly expenditure and rated on four criteria: circulation, visits, program attendance, and Internet terminal use. Heights Libraries circulation rated 33.6 per capita in its service area, meaning that 33.6 items were circulated for every resident in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights area, up from 26.1 in 2009, the last year Heights Libraries received the five-star rating. Library visits are up since 2009, with 19.4 in 2011 compared to 17.0 in 2009. Library program attendance went from 0.2 in 2009 to 0.8 in 2011.

“This just shows us what we’ve known all along—more and more people in our community are using the library,” said Nancy Levin, Heights Libraries director. “We are always busy, and I don’t see that trend reversing anytime soon. Our community depends on us more than ever for everything from free entertainment with books and DVDs and fun programs, to more crucial things like access to the Internet and free computer classes.”

Levin credits the high rating to the hard work of the library staff and board members, saying they have “stepped up their game” even after cuts in state funding to the library that began in 2009.

Heights Libraries wasn’t the only Northeast Ohio public library system to earn top honors. Cleveland Public Library, Lakewood Public Library, Shaker Heights Public Library, and Cuyahoga County Public Library’s Parma branch all received a five-star rating.

“Residents of Northeast Ohio are truly lucky to have such incredible libraries at their fingertips,” said Levin.

Sheryl Banks

Sheryl Banks is the marketing and community relations manager for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library.

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Volume 4, Issue 12, Posted 3:39 PM, 12.01.2011