Canada has fewer library books per capita than Cuba–and America is far from stellar
Not sure what to make of these UNESCO stats found at NationMaster.com. Canada, with 227 library books per 1,000 people and a rank of 42, is far below the top five countries of Georgia (15,400), Monaco (9,910), Liechtenstien (5,100), San Marino (3,858) and Iceland (3,007). I’ll delete the reminder of this paragraph since I have more current info.
Librarians: Anyone out there care to add some context? How much do the numbers suggest we’re book-starved, and how much do they suggest we’re simply library book-starved? If we’re to address the famous “savage inequalities” of our schools and libraries, then we don’t want to be starved in either way.
Of course, the sheer numbers of books aren’t enough. Age and relevance can matter, too.
The TeleRead take: If the numbers say what I think, then we in North America may have room for acquisition of many more library books. And e-books could help keep costs down.
Update, 3:45 p.m.: According to a library site in Kanas mentioned by a helpful reader, the number of books per capita in the States in 1996 was just 2.8. That would be equivalent to 2,800 books per 1,000 or, it would appear, better than Canada or Cuba–but far behind Georgia, with 15.4 library books per person. Not a stellar performance, even if you allow for growth since ‘96!
I’m in the middle of work-related deadlines but hope to get more up-to-date info from the Public Library Association.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Well this article is kind of old but since i am the only one responding it, it does not matter. First of i would like to thank you for this kind of information that is always important to know about. I think the reason why America may have less books per capita than the countries that you have mentioned is that they have less population than the US. What I mean is that for a country like Georgia that only has a little more than 4 million people is easier to reach a mark of 15.4 library books per person because they have only 66.2 million books. But if America wanted to reach that it should have more than 4727 million books which is a lot. I think the problem is the amount of people that America has wich makes it almost imposible to reach that goal. Consernning the goverment investment in libraries in America i simply have no substantial information, but weather or not is enough investment i personally believe that libraries are one of the main foundations of every domocracy, and every attempt to develop ourselves as humans in every aspect of uor lives. Lbraries are the windows of freedom, knowledge and cultural and social development. Books are one of the most important treseures of the human kind, they are the most perfect form of communcation of knowledge. Thank you.