Denver Public Library - 5 star rating en Denver Knows, Libraries ARE a Smart Investment <div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-blog-image"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item odd"> <a href="" rel="lightbox[][Denver Public Library]" class="imagefield imagefield-lightbox2 imagefield-lightbox2-thumbnail imagefield-field_blog_image imagecache imagecache-field_blog_image imagecache-thumbnail imagecache-field_blog_image-thumbnail"><img src="" alt="Denver Public Library" title="" width="100" height="149"/></a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-teaser"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item odd"> <p><a href="">Library Journal</a> gives Denver Public Library a 5 star rating. &quot;What our libraries deliver to our communities have always mattered, but they may now be more important than ever. In the face of the ongoing and broad cuts libraries are seeing nationwide, it is vital to illustrate the accomplishments of libraries.&quot; </p> </div> </div> </div> <p>The star ratings are based on visits, circulation, program attendance, and public Internet terminal use. Community involvement and your participation are the driving forces to earn this rating. </p> <p>In a (perhaps) related story, Denver was named the <a href=" ">5th smartest city</a> by The Daily Beast. From the article: &quot;The continuing economic malaise just reinforces a perennial fact: A city&rsquo;s potential lies mostly with the ingenuity and brainpower of its citizens. Regions with intellectual vigor are more likely to bounce back.&quot; Criteria to make this list include education: the percentage of residents over age 25 who had bachelor&rsquo;s degrees and graduate degrees, and the intellectual environment, determined by year-to-date nonfiction book sales, the ratio of institutions of higher education &mdash; different than just measuring college degrees, this acknowledges universities as drivers of intellectual vigor of cities and rewards cities with college populations. Finally, <em>libraries per capita</em> measures how willing and able a city is to educate the general public, as well as the no-cost opportunities for the public to educate itself.</p> <p>So the unscientific conclusion we can draw here is that <a href="">Denver is a smart community</a> because libraries are here to offer free lifelong learning, personal enrichment, programs and classes; and the Library's success depends on a smart and savvy community that appreciates its worth and contribution.</p> Library News 5 star rating Denver library advocacy smartest city Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:19:51 +0000 Janet 1834 at