The city of Berkeley operates one of the costliest, busiest, best-stocked, and most well-staffed library systems in California.
There are only 10 library systems in the state that spent more per capita than Berkeley in 2010-2011. It's a list that includes towns like Mill Valley, Belvedere-Tiburon, Beverly Hills and Carmel, which topped the ranking with $345 for every resident, according to the California State Library. [See the table below for Berkeley's expenditures per capita.]
Now the Berkeley Public Library wants to know what you think of the job its doing and the services it provides with all that money. The library has released a 25-question survey as part of its strategic plan, according to Berkeleyside.
Another interesting fact from the California State Library: Berkeley Public Library has more materials for children than any other library system in the state.
Berkeley Public Library 2010-2011 Statewide Mean 2010-2011 Expenditures per capita $121.95 $32.36 Material expenditures per capita $7.51 $2.68 Print, ebooks, audio and video per capita 5.04 items 2.03 items Full-time employees per population 1 FTE for 1,050 residents 1 FTE for 3,429 residents Circulation per capita 17.19 6.41 Visits per capita 11.95 4.41 Materials per child 15.31 Not Available Source: California State Library