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Table 423. Public libraries, books and serial volumes, library visits, and reference transactions, by state: Fiscal year 2002

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                      |          |          | Number |         |      |  Public ||                |          |          | Number |         |      |  Public
                      |   Number |Number of |of books|         |Circu-| library ||                |   Number |Number of |of books|         |Circu-| library
                      |       of |books and |    and | Library |lation|reference||                |       of |books and |    and | Library |lation|reference
State                 |   public |   serial | serial |  visits |  per |  trans- ||State           |   public |   serial | serial |  visits |  per |  trans-
                      |libraries,|  volumes |volumes |     per |capita| actions ||                |libraries,|  volumes |volumes |     per |capita| actions
                      |excluding |      (in |    per |capita\1\|      |     per ||                |excluding |      (in |    per |capita\1\|      |     per
                      | branches |thousands)| capita |         |      |capita\2\||                | branches |thousands)| capita |         |      |capita\2\
______________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________||________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________
1                     |        2 |        3 |      4 |       5 |    6 |       7 ||1               |        2 |        3 |      4 |       5 |    6 |       7
______________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________||________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________
   United States .....|     9,137|   785,075|     2.8|      4.5|   6.8|      1.1||                |          |          |        |         |      |
                      |__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________||                |          |          |        |         |      |
Alabama ..............|       207|     8,913|     2.0|      3.0|   3.8|      0.7||Missouri .......|       148|    18,204|     3.6|      4.5|   7.7|      0.9
Alaska ...............|        85|     2,272|     3.5|      4.4|   5.8|      0.5||Montana ........|        79|     2,652|     2.9|      4.0|   5.7|      0.5
Arizona ..............|        35|     9,109|     1.7|      3.7|   7.0|      0.9||Nebraska .......|       275|     6,152|     4.4|      5.2|   8.7|      0.8
Arkansas .............|        47|     5,357|     2.1|      2.9|   4.3|      0.6||Nevada .........|        22|     4,137|     1.9|      4.1|   5.5|      0.7
California ...........|       179|    68,291|     2.0|      4.1|   5.3|      1.0||New Hampshire ..|       230|     5,725|     4.5|      4.7|   7.3|      0.7
                      |          |          |        |         |      |         ||                |          |          |        |         |      |
Colorado .............|       115|    11,469|     2.7|      5.8|   9.9|      1.3||New Jersey .....|       309|    31,203|     3.7|      5.1|   6.3|      0.9
Connecticut ..........|       194|    14,336|     4.2|      6.5|   8.9|      1.2||New Mexico .....|        89|     4,098|     2.5|      3.3|   4.9|      0.6
Delaware .............|        21|     1,488|     1.9|      3.7|   6.2|      0.6||New York .......|       751|    79,003|     4.2|      5.7|   6.9|      1.7
District of Columbia .|         1|     2,650|     4.6|      3.5|   2.1|      1.9||North Carolina .|        76|    16,243|     2.0|      3.8|   5.4|      0.9
Florida ..............|        72|    30,775|     1.8|      4.0|   5.3|      1.5||North Dakota ...|        82|     2,246|     4.1|      4.2|   7.4|      0.8
                      |          |          |        |         |      |         ||                |          |          |        |         |      |
Georgia ..............|        58|    14,869|     1.9|      3.3|   4.8|      1.0||Ohio ...........|       250|    48,075|     4.2|      6.9|  14.6|      1.7
Hawaii ...............|         1|     3,052|     2.5|      4.6|   5.8|      0.9||Oklahoma .......|       110|     6,345|     2.2|      4.7|   5.9|      0.7
Idaho ................|       106|     3,636|     3.1|      5.8|   7.9|      0.8||Oregon .........|       124|     8,811|     2.8|      5.9|  13.4|      0.9
Illinois .............|       627|    42,390|     3.7|      5.5|   7.9|      1.4||Pennsylvania ...|       451|    28,548|     2.4|      3.4|   5.1|      0.8
Indiana ..............|       239|    23,667|     4.2|      6.3|  11.7|      1.3||Rhode Island ...|        48|     4,109|     3.9|      5.7|   6.8|      0.9
                      |          |          |        |         |      |         ||                |          |          |        |         |      |
Iowa .................|       538|    11,494|     3.9|      5.3|   9.1|      0.7||South Carolina .|        41|     8,379|     2.1|      3.5|   4.6|      1.1
Kansas ...............|       323|    10,691|     4.8|      5.8|  10.1|      1.2||South Dakota ...|       125|     2,837|     4.7|      5.9|   8.4|      0.9
Kentucky .............|       116|     8,154|     2.0|      3.6|   5.4|      0.5||Tennessee ......|       184|    10,376|     1.8|      3.1|   4.0|      0.7
Louisiana ............|        65|    11,092|     2.5|      2.9|   4.0|      1.1||Texas ..........|       557|    36,890|     1.9|      3.0|   4.5|      1.1
Maine ................|       274|     6,016|     5.1|      5.0|   7.1|      0.8||Utah ...........|        72|     6,063|     2.7|      5.0|  11.7|      1.4
                      |          |          |        |         |      |         ||                |          |          |        |         |      |
Maryland .............|        24|    15,389|     3.0|      5.2|   9.4|      1.4||Vermont ........|       189|     2,739|     4.7|      5.2|   6.7|      0.8
Massachusetts ........|       370|    30,795|     4.9|      5.5|   7.6|      0.9||Virginia .......|        90|    19,385|     2.7|      4.5|   8.5|      1.1
Michigan .............|       383|    31,695|     3.2|      4.1|   5.8|      0.8||Washington .....|        64|    17,133|     2.9|      4.8|  10.1|      1.5
Minnesota ............|       142|    16,115|     3.2|      5.2|   9.7|      1.0||West Virginia ..|        97|     5,010|     2.8|      3.4|   4.2|      0.8
Mississippi ..........|        49|     5,712|     2.1|      2.8|   3.3|      0.5||Wisconsin ......|       380|    18,864|     3.5|      5.7|   9.7|      1.0
                      |          |          |        |         |      |         ||Wyoming ........|        23|     2,420|     4.9|      5.6|   7.8|      0.9
______________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________||________________|__________|__________|________|_________|______|_________

\1\The total number of persons entering the library for any purpose during the year.
\2\A reference transaction is an information contact which involves the knowledge, use, recommendations, interpretation or instructions in the use of one or more information sources by a member of the library staff.

NOTE: Data include imputations for nonresponse.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries in the United States: FY2002. (This table was prepared March 2005.)

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