Montgomery County Public Libraries ranked 10th in the country for systems serving 500,000 people or more, according to the 2006 ratings issued by a Wisconsin library consultant.
The ranking is based on the Hennen American Public Library Rating analysis of annual public library statistics collected by the Federal-State Cooperative System. Data from 2004, the most recent available, was used to calculate the 2006 list of the top 100 libraries, broken down by population served.
Thomas Hennen, the creator of the index, bases his ratings on 15 different points. He gives the most weight to libraries’ expenditure per capita and also considers such other criteria as visits per hour and periodicals per 1,000 residents.
Montgomery’s library system was one of 72 analyzed by Hennen that serve populations of 500,000 or more. The Cuyahoga County Public Library system in Cleveland was at the top of the list.
The Baltimore County Public Library came in fifth and was the only other Maryland library system included in that population division.
In the 250,000 and up population category, Howard County Libraries came in second.
Montgomery’s libraries have ranked in the top 10 of Hennen’s index all but one year since it began. Their highest rank was third in 1999, the first year of the index.
“It is always pleasant to know that we continue to be in the top systems nationwide,” libraries spokeswoman Betty Valdes said Tuesday.
Valdes said the county’s libraries have no contact with Hennen and learn each fall of their ranking when it is published in American Libraries magazine.
She said the system wants to continue to improve in all of the areas and increase its capacity to serve county residents, including seniors, teens and children.
