Barrington Area Library: Barrington Area Library Receives Four Star Ranking In National Survey For The Second TIme

Press release from Barrington Area Library:

December 13, 2021

The Library will be closed on Friday, Dec 24, Saturday, Dec 25, Friday, Dec 31, and Saturday, Jan 1.

The Barrington Area Library has once again been honored with a rare, four star ranking by Library Journal, in its annual Star Libraries report. The Library is one of only 15 Star Libraries in the state of Illinois. We thank you, our community, for supporting us so well and taking full advantage of all the benefits your BALibrary card offers, year after year.

For the 2021 report, Library Journal surveyed 5,846 qualifying public libraries in the United States, and 261 received three, four, or five star rankings. This places the Barrington Area Library within the top 4% of libraries nationwide, based on seven major service measures – physical material circulation, electronic circulation, number of visits, program attendance, public computer users, wifi sessions, and e-resource information retrievals - measured per capita. Libraries are also ranked based on their annual operating budgets. This year's ranking is based on data from the Library's 2018-2019 fiscal year.

The Barrington Area Library ranks particularly high - in the top 6% in the nation - on electronic circulation, which includes e-books, e-audiobooks, and other digital materials. The Library also shines in areas like physical circulation (books and DVDs) and wifi usage, and ranks well over the national mean in all but one category.

The Library received its first four star ranking in 2019, after being named a three star library three times since the report was first published in 2009. See the full report on the Library Journal website.

This press release was produced by Barrington Area Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.