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AccessMichigan: The Challenges and Rewards of Statewide Library Cooperation

Slide 2 of 17

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Michigan and New York Libraries - A brief comparison.

To understand the AM project, you need to know a little about the state. First, Michigan is BIG. You can leave Detroit and drive for 13 hours. If you go east, you’ll be in New York City. If you go Northwest, you’ll be in Copper Harbor, on the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula. Also, it is extremely rural, once you go north of a line that runs roughly from Grand Rapids in the west, east to Flint, and south to Detroit. As a result, MI is highly decentralized, with no state Board of Regents, for example.State Board of Education has almost no authority over local school districts. State library relates to the library community more by suggestion than compulsion.

Sources of these statistics:

Population: The 2000 Census, as reported on the USA Today Web Site.

Academic Libraries: The 1994 IPEDS Academic Library Survey, published in 1997 by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). By the way, this includes all levels of academic libraries, from community colleges through PhD granting institutions.

Public Library jurisdictions/outlets: “Public Libraries in the US, FY 1997,” (NCES, 2000).

Public library expenditures: American Library Directory, 2000-2001, (Bowker, 2000).

Public school districts and buildings: “Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Districts, 1998-1999,” (NCES, 2000). School library count from the School and Staffing Survey, 1993-1994 (NCES, 1998). However, the New York numbers have been updated to 2000-2001.