photo credit: *clairity*
A few weeks ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article by Laurie Hertzel stating that my fair city is tied for first with Seattle for the most literary city in the U.S. Next came Washington, D.C. and then St. Paul. I must admit, as I was first reading the article, the air temp was 0 degrees with a biting wind chill, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a connection between inclement weather and the desire to read!
However, apparently weather is not considered 
Here’s a little background on the study, done by the Central Connecticut State University in New Britian, Conn:
“The annual study looks at what it calls ‘indicators of literacy’ — that is, it doesn’t measure how much we read, but the available resources — bookstores, libraries, newspaper circulation.”
- Education: percentage of adult population with a high school degree or higher, percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher
- Booksellers: number of retail bookstores, rare and used bookstores and number of members of the American Booksellers Association per 10,000 population
- Internet: number of internet book orders, number of webpage viewings to city’s newspapers…
- Libraries: number of branch libraries and library professional staff… number of circulations, volumes held…
- Newspapers: weekday total and Sunday total circulation, divided by population
- Publications: Numbers of magazine publishers with circulation over 2,500 and number of journals with circulation over 500 per 100,000 population
Way to go, Twin Cities!
Seattle beat Mpls in Newspapers and Publications, but Mpls won in Libraries, Internet, and Education (Booksellers tied).
And they just announced that Minneapolis transplant Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Medal.