METHODOLOGY

Selection of Cities for Inclusion

Cities were selected based on their 2004 U.S. Census population figures.  The study was limited to those cities with a population of 250,000 or larger.

Newspaper Data

For the newspaper database, the daily and Sunday circulation figures for the March 2005 reporting period from the Publisher’s Statements were obtained from the Audit Bureau of Circulation website. Those numbers were divided by the 2004 U.S. Census population figures for the cities resulting in a ratio, which was then rank ordered.  Three cities (Anaheim, CA, Arlington, TX, and Aurora, CO) had no newspaper published in their city.  Additionally, three cities (New York, Chicago, and Dallas) had major newspapers whose circulation figures were being audited at the time of this report, hence March 2005 data was unavailable.  For those three cities, last year’s circulation figures were used in the analysis.  Finally, Tulsa’s circulation figures were those reported for the previous year from the newspaper itself, as they are not participants in the ABC publisher statements.

NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION (Population Utilized: U.S. Census 2004 Estimates)

1.  Weekday Total Circulation Divided by Total Population

2.  Sunday Total Circulation Divided by Total Population

Internet Data

Figures for the Internet accessibility database were obtained from Intel Corporation’s 3rd Annual "Most Unwired Cities" survey, which ranks the top 100 U.S. cities and regions for the greatest wireless Internet accessibility. Figures for the number of internet terminals at public libraries were obtained from the Fiscal Year 2003 Public Libraries Survey from the National Center for Education Statistics website.  This was the most recent database available. Figures for "read a newspaper online" and "ordered a book online" were obtained from Scarborough Research's USA+2004 Release 2 (August 2003-September 2004).

INTERNET USE (Population Utilized: U.S. Census 2004; Library Service Population Fiscal Year 2003)

                               1.  Number of Library Internet Connection Per 10,000 Library Service
                        Population

                               2.  Number of Commercial and Public Wireless Internet Access Points
                        Per Capita

                   3.  Number of Internet Book Orders Per Capita

4.  Percentage of Adult Population That Has Read Newspaper on
     Internet
 

Magazines and Journals Data

Figures for this database were gathered from the web edition of the National Directory of Magazines (2004-2005) for magazines and the Standard Periodical Directory (2005) for journals.

PERIODICAL PUBLISHERS (Population Utilized: U.S. Census 2004 Estimates)

1.  Number of Magazine Publishers with Circulation Over 2,500 per 100,000 
     Population

2. Number of Journals Published with Circulation Over 500 per 100,000
    Population

Booksellers and Stores Data

For this database, information was gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau website (http://www.census.gov  (2004 population)), as well as Yellow Pages, Inc. (http://www.yellowpagesinc.com  (2004)) for information on retail & rare booksellers.  Also, the American Booksellers Association site (http://www.bookweb.org  (2005)) was used for independent bookseller information.  Please note that for figures reported for “retail,” these did not include any “specialty,” “adult,” or “religious” book stores.

BOOKSTORES (Population Utilized: U.S. Census 2004 Estimates)

                                  1.  Number of Retail Bookstores per 10,000 Population

                                  2.  Number of Rare/Used Bookstores Per 10,000 Population

                                  3.  Number of Independent Members of the American Booksellers
                                 Association Per 10,000 Population

Educational Attainment Data

For this database, information was gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau website (http://www.census.gov [2000 population]), specifically using the Educational Attainments statistics and population. 

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL (Population Utilized: U.S. Census 2000)

1.  Percentage of Adult Population with Educational Attainment Level of 8^th
     Grade or Less

2.  Percentage of Adult Population with Educational Attainment Level of High
     School Diploma or More

3.  Percentage of Adult Population with Educational Attainment Level of
     Bachelors Degree or More

Library Data

Information regarding the number of students and media specialists comes from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) database, specifically the “Public School District” data for the 2002-2003 school year.

For two of the study’s cities, there were no city-wide data available.  Here is how those cases were handled:

For Phoenix, AZ and San Jose, CA, we had to go through each and every school district for the state to see which were classified as being in a “regional school district” for the “large central city” of either Phoenix or San Jose.  This resulted in the inclusion of the following schools and school districts for each city:

PHOENIX

SAN JOSE

Information regarding library staff per capita, volumes per capita, circulation per capita, and branches per capita were gleaned from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) database, specifically the “Library Statistics Program.”

For Chicago, IL the library staff figures were not available on-line or in the 2005 hard copy directory itself, so data from the previous year’s study was used.

LIBRARIES (Populations Utilized: Public School Fiscal Year 2003-2004 Enrollments; Library Service Population Fiscal Year 2003)

                                      1.  Number of School Media Personnel Per 1000 Public School Students

                                      2.  Number of Branch Libraries per 10,000 Library Service Population

                                      3.  Volumes Held in Library Per Capita of Library Service Population

                                      4.  Number of Circulations Per Capita of Library Service Population

                                      5.  Number of Library Professional Staff per 10,000 Library Service
                                  Population