The Oak Park Public Library is gaining national props and being called one of the best of its kind in the state of Illinois.
Library Journal — the oldest and “most respected” publication covering the library field, according to its website — recently gave Oak Park its four-star designation. On top of that, the magazine named the local library as the second best in the state in its budget category.
Executive Director Deirdre Brennan said the designation means all the more, as it’s based on hard data of how well the library is used, not subjectivity.
“It’s a big deal because it’s very objective,” Brennan said. “This is not them just picking libraries. It’s based on usage, and the reason it is so important to us is because it’s so much about how the community uses us.”
The Oak Park Library was one of 18 institutions gaining the star designation in the state of Illinois, and 262 in the country out of 7,513 rated libraries, according to LibraryJournal.com. This is the fourth year that Library Journal has been giving out stars, which go as high as five and as low as three, and the first year that Oak Park got noticed.
Library Journal bases the star ratings on data submitted to each state’s library agencies in the categories of visits, circulation, program attendance and computer use. There’s a lag in data reported, so this year’s ratings are based on 2009 numbers.
Brennan said they hope to earn a five-star designation sometime in the future, by continuing to grow their collection of electronic books, and bolstering the programs they offer to the public.
“The community funds us to provide the services they want, and the fact that they’re using them more, and using them at the level that we get four stars, means were doing a really good job of giving them what they need,” she said.
