Oak Ridge Public Library

The HAPLR Index rates public libraries in the United States based on the latest data from almost 9,000 U.S. libraries as reported to the Federal State Cooperative System. The HAPLR is the first of its kind in the United States. The current edition of the ratings is the fifth edition. Libraries are rated, scored and ranked on 15 input and output measures. The focus is on circulation, staffing, materials, reference service, and funding levels. The latest (2006) public library statistics were published by the National Center for Educational Statistics in July of 2006. The HAPLR Index is similar to an ACT or SAT score with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 1,000. Most libraries score between 260 and 730.

The author, Thomas J. Hennen Jr., of the HAPLR Index, has over 25 years worth of experience in public libraries. He is the director of the Waukesha County Federated Library System in Wisconsin. He has published in Library Journal, American Libraries and in other American Library Association publications. He is also a speaker for the library associations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Mr. Hennen’s ratings system attempts to identify the public libraries in America with the highest input and output measures. The author added the scores for each library within a population category to develop a weighted score. The population categories change at 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000 and 500,000. In the HAPLR Index each library is compared to all others in its population category on all 15 measures. The combined score is then transformed into an index score so that all can be easily compared with a single number.

The HAPLR Index factors are:

Expenditures per capita
Percent of budget to materials
Materials expenditure per capita
FTE staff per 1,000 population
Periodicals per 1,000 residents
Volumes per capita
Operating expenditures per circulation
Visits per capita
Collection turnover
Circulation per FTE staff hour
Circulation per capita
Reference per capita
Circulation per hour
Visits per hour
Circulation per visit

Oak Ridge Public Library is one of 52 public libraries in Tennessee and of 1,770 U.S. public libraries in the population category of 10,000 to 24,999. The average score of libraries in this category in Tennessee is 335.. Our library scored 632, placing us second in the state.

To view all the Tennessee libraries in the survey go to: http://www.haplr-index.com/States/tn.html

To view all state scores in the survey go to: http://haplr-index.com/AverageStatewideScores.html