A few minutes ago, I responded to a Meebo patron's question about the number of libraries in Mississippi. I'm not certain if our Meebo patron received my response, but just in case he or she didn't, here is the answer again: We have 611 libraries in Mississippi.
Here's a break down of the types of libraries:
Public Libraries: 234
Academic Libraries: 31 (16 4-year institutions; 15 2-year institutions)
High School Libraries: 346
If we missed each other before, Meebo patron, I hope this reaches you without incident!
The Mississippi Library Commission is committed – through leadership, advocacy, and service – to strengthening and enhancing libraries and library services for all Mississippians.
I am curious to know your sourcing for this post, most especially the one concerning academic libraries. I think the difference I am contemplating in my head is that several 4 year schools have multiple libraries. In addition to their main libraries MSU has a library in Meridian and at the Arch. school, Ole Miss and MC have separate law libraries in addition to their "regular" collections. Just curious how they play into this number.
ReplyDeleteBSquared, because there isn't a single source for this information, the number that appears in the post is derived from manually counting the number of institutions, schools, and libraries in the state using www.ms.gov and the website for the Mississippi Department of Education. I didn't count the individual libraries at 4-year institutions as separate libraries, so the number of academic libraries in the post actually refers to the library systems of the 4-year institutions rather than the individual libraries. The exception is the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which I did count as a separate library system from the University of Mississippi. Perhaps I should have clarified this in my post. Thanks for pointing this out!
ReplyDeleteRegarding my sources, I should add that MLC does maintain a database of all public libraries in the state, which was my source for that particular category.
ReplyDeleteWhat about special libraries such as the Miss. Dept. of Archives & History?
ReplyDeleteI didn't include special libraries in my figures, either. An excellent point to bring up, Carunzel!
ReplyDelete