Twin Cities Most Literate, but Check Out Cleveland

The annual ranking of America's most literate cities (population 250,000 and above) issued by Central Connecticut State University (www.ccsu.edu/AMLC07/overview.htm) shows that Minneapolis, which came in second behind Seattle in the two previous rankings, has taken over the top spot. The other Twin City, St. Paul, is third, followed by Denver, the District of Columbia, St. Louis, San Francisco, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Boston. The study is based on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

As the graphic suggests, the list is rather different when it comes to library resources. The study used five variables, all keyed to population: number of school media personnel, number of branch libraries, volumes held in the library, library circulation, and number of library professional staff.