Library Fast Facts — South Dakota
Data cited is taken from the 2005 data published in the Cooperative Library Statistics Program Report released by NCES, November, 2007
South Dakota ranks 2nd in the nation in number of books per capita with 5.34 books per capita. Maine was #1 with 5.39 books per capita. The national average is 2.85 books per capita. Nevada ranks lowest with 1.63 books per capita. In spite of this high ranking, 32.4% of South Dakota’s libraries have less than 10,000 volumes in their collection (8.1% have less than 5,000 volumes).
South Dakotans visited their public library an estimated 3,724,000 times in 2005. That is an average of 6.21 visits per capita. Nationwide, 1,359,858,000 visits were made to public libraries; an average of 4.75 visits per capita. Ohio had the highest per capita visits in 2005 (7.23) and Mississippi was the lowest at 2.85 visits per capita. South Dakota ranked 9th in the nation in this category.
Americans make 3.5 billion visits to school, public and college libraries each year -- about three times the attendance at movie theaters.
Libraries in South Dakota are supported primarily by local tax dollars — 95.2% of funding is local vs. 0.1% state funding. Nationwide 81.4% of library funding is local and 9.6% is state funding. Nationally, federal funding provides only .5% of the support for public libraries. The majority of federal funds are expended on statewide services such as statewide database contracts.
The $30.97 per capita support (operating income) for South Dakota public libraries (2005) is $10 higher than the per capita support in 2000 and lower than the 2005 national average per capita support of $33.87. Ohio is #1 in library support, expending $61.41 per person (this includes $40.30 from state aid.)
South Dakota public libraries collectively employ 43.4 librarians with a masters in library science. (54% of those librarians work in the two largest libraries — 10 work at the Siouxland Libraries in Sioux Falls and 9 work at the Rapid City Public Library). Statewide, 16 of 124 libraries employ at least one staff-person with a MLS degree.
South Dakotans checked out an average of 9.13 public library materials per capita compared to the 2005 national average of 7.20 transactions per capita. Nationwide the highest per capita circulation was 15.03 in Ohio and the lowest was 2.05 in the District of Columbia and 3.17 in Mississippi.
Nationally, public libraries receive less than 1% of all tax dollars, but are used by more than 50% of all adults.
More children participate in summer reading programs at libraries than play Little League baseball.
There are more public libraries in the U.S. than there are McDonald’s restaurants — a total of 16,543 nationwide including branches and bookmobiles.
South Dakota has 124 public libraries, 16 branches, and 7 bookmobiles. 63.7% of the public libraries are municipal, 8.9% are county administered, and 21.8% are multijurisdictional (primarily school/public combinations.)
25% of South Dakota’s public libraries spend less than $10,000 per year to provide services and 42.7% spend between $10,000 and $49,000. On average in 2005, South Dakota public libraries spent 67.8% of their budget on staff and 17.2% on books and other materials. The average amount spent in SD per capita for the purchase of new materials was $5.11.