The Mississippi Library Commission recently named 12 public library systems as Star Libraries based on their statistics for fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018-September 30, 2019). The library systems are separated into four categories by expenditures that they report on the annual Public Library Survey, required by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. MLC then compares libraries’ per capita rates in these four areas:
- Mississippi Measures – this is a combination of interlibrary loan use, statewide database use, number of registered users, and items withdrawn.
- Circulation per capita
- Total program attendance per capita
- Public Internet terminal uses per capita
Star Library status is decided by recognizing the three highest scoring libraries in each of the four expenditure categories. Star Library status is awarded to the following libraries for their FY19 statistics:
Under $300,000
- Noxubee County Public Library System
- Covington County Library System
- Pine Forest Regional Library System
$300,000 - $599,999
- Starkville-Oktibbeha County Public Library System
- Pearl River County Library System
- Sunflower County Library System
$600,000 - $999,999
- Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System
- Northeast Regional Library System
- Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library
$1,000,000 and above
- First Regional Library System
- Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System
- Jackson-George Regional Library System
The winning libraries received a certificate and a digital Star Library badge to feature on their website. Congratulations to the winning libraries!
