Filed under: Publishing News
Minneapolis, Minnesota, population 372811, was named 2007’s Most Literate City. The methodology used by Central Connecticut State University includes only cities with a population in excess of 250,000 according to the US Census Data as of July 1, 2006. The study calculates the ranking based on newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.
The top ten list includes
- Minneapolis, MN
- Seattle, WA
- St. Paul, MN
- Denver, CO
- Washington, DC
- St. Louis, MO
- San Francisco, CA
- Atlanta, GA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Boston, MA
Interestingly, the 2007 report concludes that literate behavior is down, pointing to the lack of support for independent bookstores and declining newspaper circulation. Given that my family gave up the newspaper delivery to read news on the internet, I don’t know that literate behavior is being correctly or adequately measured today.
It’s a little scary that New York, usually considered the heart of publishing, isn’t even on the list.