Another post commenting on Chapter 20 of Give Us a Dollar and We’ll Give You Back Four (2012-13)–now available as a $9.99 Kindle ebook or $21.95 paperback with ISBN 978-1481279161 on Amazon, along with the usual Lulu options.
Louisiana’s 68 libraries (none were omitted) are reasonably well distributed in terms of spending—a little low at the very top, but also low in the two lowest brackets. Circulation is distinctly on the low side, with no library circulating at least 17 items per capita and only 19% circulating at least six items per capita (compared to 64% overall). Spending does correlate with circulation on the benchmark side and, with one exception, on the budget side (the best-funded libraries generally circulate fewer items per capita than those spending $53 to $72.99). Patron visits are also low, with none hitting 9 or more visits per capita and only 25% at four or more (compared to 65% overall).
Program attendance is also low: 69% of the libraries have less than 0.3 attendance per capita, compared to 46% overall. Since 57% of the libraries have from 0.5 to 0.99 PC uses per capita, those figures are also on the low side (although very few libraries—6, or 9%–have less than 0.5 PC uses per capita).
Libraries by legal service area
| LSA | Count | % |
| 700-1,149 | 1 | 1.5% |
| 1,150-1,649 | 1 | 1.5% |
| 4,000-5,299 | 1 | 1.5% |
| 5,300-6,799 | 2 | 2.9% |
| 6,800-8,699 | 1 | 1.5% |
| 8,700-11,099 | 4 | 5.9% |
| 11,100-14,099 | 3 | 4.4% |
| 14,100-18,499 | 6 | 8.8% |
| 18,500-24,999 | 11 | 16.2% |
| 25,000-34,499 | 6 | 8.8% |
| 34,500-53,999 | 13 | 19.1% |
| 54,000-104,999 | 5 | 7.4% |
| 105,000-4.1 mill. | 14 | 20.6% |
Circulation per Capita and Spending per Capita
There’s only a moderate correlation (0.37) between circulation per capita and spending per capita for Louisiana libraries.
Circulation per capita plotted against spending per capita
Circulation per capita (rounded) occurrence by spending category
