St. Louis County Library Ranked 4-Stars By Library Journal

Press release from the St. Louis County Library:

December 21, 2021

St. Louis County Library has been ranked as a 4-­star library in the 2021 Library Journal Index of Public Library Service. SLCL is the only four star library in the St. Louis region. The rank of four stars indicates a high per capita use in five major areas of library service: library visits, circulation, program attendance, circulation of electronic material and public Internet computer use. The ranking is based on statistics from 2019, when SLCL circulated over 16 million items.

To create the index, public libraries are compared to others with similar annual expenditures and ranked accordingly. Star Library ratings of five, four, and three stars are awarded to libraries that generate the highest combined per capita outputs among their peers. SLCL received a four-star rating in the $30,000,000+ expenditure range.

The past two years have been a time of adjusting, adapting and transforming Library service to the community. Throughout the pandemic, SLCL has provided critical resources to the region, including distributing over 1.3 million drive-thru meals with Operation Food Search, providing emergency diapers and period supply kits from the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, and issuing thousands of Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots to area students to assist with virtual learning through the Digital Equity Initiative. SLCL is planning for the return of more traditional library services in 2022, as well as new projects, including:

· Adding social workers to assist individuals and families

· Hosting a regional storytelling festival

· Adding more items to our “library of things”

· Upgrading our bookmobile fleet

The Library Journal is a publication of the American Library Association. More information about the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service can be found here.

More information about programs and services at SLCL can be found at www.slcl.org or by calling 314-994-3300.

This press release was produced by the St. Louis County Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.