HAPLR Building Size Listing Page

Hennen's American Public Library Ratings
The ratings are based on federal data but only the author is responsible for ratings on this site.
haplr-index.com 6014 Spring Street, Racine, WI 53406 USA

Share knowledge, seek wisdom.

Home HAPLR ratings Top 100 Libraries Orders Samples Press
Hennen Consulting FAQ Book Presentations Miscellaneous

HAPLR Building Size Listing Page

From 2006 Edition - To be updated to current data eventually.

Population	Far West	Great Lakes	Mid Eastern	New England	Plains	Rocky Mts	Southeast	Southwest	Average
Over 500,000	0.3	0.8	0.6	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.5
250,000 to 499,999	0.4	0.7	0.5		0.5	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.5
100,000 to 249,999	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.8	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.5
50,000 to 99,999	0.5	0.8	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.6
25,000 to 49,999	0.7	0.9	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.7
10,000 to 24,999	0.8	1.0	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.5	0.8
5,000 to 9,999	0.9	1.1	0.8	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.9
2,500 to 4,999	1.1	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.3	1.1	0.8	0.9	1.1
1,000 to 2,499	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.4	1.7	1.6	1.2	1.3	1.6
Under 1,000	5.8	5.5	4.4	2.2	2.9	2.8	3.2	3.4	3.4
Grand Total	1.6	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.8	1.2	0.7	0.9	1.2

Up until a few years ago, the U.S. was one of the few Western industrialized nations that did not keep track of public library building size.

Taken together, these numbers tell us important things about library buildings in each region of the country. For example, the smaller the population of the community, the more square feet per capita we find available. Librarians that are planning buildings should keep this in mind. They must also remember when planning a new building the square footage should be above average because the building must stand for the future. The Southeast and Southwest have the smallest buildings relative to population, while the libraries in the Great Plains have the largest.

Now that the data are more complete for building size, the HAPLR web site will include information for building planners that includes ranges and recommendations for library building size.

*Region*	*State*
Far West	AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA
Great Lakes	IL, IN, MI, OH, WI
Mid Eastern	DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA
New England	CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
Plains	IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD
Rocky Mountain	CO, ID, MT, UT, WY
South East	AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
South West	AZ, NM, OK, TX

Revised October 2008

Home Ratings Order Samples Press FAQ Misc

May 2009