Apparently, we don't have to tell you to read all about it.
You already do.
Pittsburgh jumped to fourth in the seventh annual study ofAmerica's Most Literate Cities released this month by CentralConnecticut State University. The city ranked 12th in 2008.
"I think the overall rankings for Pittsburgh are very high for acity that prides itself on reinventing itself since the passage ofthe steel industry," said university President Jack Miller, thestudy's author. "If you think of the rest of the cities in there,they're not the heavily industrialized cities."
Seattle topped the list. The study examined cities with at least250,000 people and focused on what Miller said are key indicators ofliteracy: newspaper circulation, the number of bookstores, libraryresources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainmentand Internet resources.
The study weighted the categories equally.
"Is it a city where people practice what I call literate behavior-- do they support bookstores, do they read newspapers, do they buybooks online?" Miller said.
Pittsburgh's highest ranking came in libraries, where it placedthird. The study measured the number of library branches per capita,the number of volumes held, a library's circulation per capita andnumber of staff. The city ranked 10th in the category last year.
Its lofty ranking could be in danger next year, given staff cutsrecently approved by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh board andplans that are on hold calling for the closure of some branches.
But Carnegie Library President Barbara Mistick said she'sconfident the community will keep Pittsburgh's library rankingsteady.
"What I have learned over the last three months is neverunderestimate the power of your community to maintain libraries,"she said.
Pittsburgh's jump to fourth also can be credited to newspaperreadership -- the city went from tying for 10th to fifth. Pittsburghis one of the few cities nationwide with competing daily newspapers.The Tribune-Review also bucked a national trend in increasingcirculation this year.
"Newspaper circulation everywhere is declining, and this is allrelative to other cities," Miller said.
The "most literate" label is important economically forPittsburgh, Mistick said.
"We are living in a period of time where information is a primarycurrency for communities," she said. "Literate communities,communities that are information-savvy and understand informationtechnology and can digest information and use information -- thoseare the communities that have a workforce that is most adaptable forthe future.
"I think Pittsburgh would really like this identification ofbeing educated, of being a progressive city," Mistick said. "Thechallenge is: Can we maintain that?"
