Barringon library earns second four-star rating
The Barrington Area Library has been honored for the second time with a four-star ranking by Library Journal.
The ranking appeared in the annual "America's Star Libraries: The LJ Index of Public Library Service 2021" report by the journal, which surveyed 5,846 qualifying public libraries across the country.
A total 261 libraries received three-, four- or five-star rankings.
Illinois' newly named five-star libraries are Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin and Lanark Public Library in Lanark. Illinois had a total 15 star libraries for 2021, more than any other state except Ohio and Nebraska. Regionally, the Midwest has the largest number of star libraries, at 117.
"We thank you, our community, for supporting us so well and taking full advantage of all the benefits your Barrington Area Library card offers, year after year," library officials said when they announced the news on the website.
The Barrington Area Library was in the top 4% of libraries nationwide on the basis of seven measures: physical material circulation, electronic circulation, number of visits, program attendance, public computer users, Wi-Fi sessions and e-resource information retrievals, according to library officials. The data is measured on a per capita basis.
The Barrington Area Library ranked in the top 6% in the country for electronic circulation, which includes e-books, e-audiobooks and other digital materials. The library also did well for physical circulation - meaning books and DVDs - and Wi-Fi usage. Its lowest score was for program attendance.
The library received its first four-star ranking in 2019. It got a three-star ranking three times since the report was first published in 2009.
The 2021 rankings are based on fiscal year 2019 data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services' public library survey.
"Because of the unavoidable delay in data collection and analysis, that means this year's star libraries once again represent not our current pandemic realities but a sort of pre-pandemic time capsule. Nonetheless, as such, they represent a useful point of comparison," the rankings' author wrote at libraryjournal.com.