If You Go to Barnes & Noble and Read Books For Free, Does That Count?
Speaking of libraries, I stumbled across this list today of "Facts and Statistics About DC".
One of the tidbits:
DC has 715 libraries—only 118 fewer than New York City.
Now, I like books as much as anyone else, and I love libraries.
But are there really 715? At first blush, it wouldn't seem like it. I guess you could bump the number up if you include libraries at schools, colleges, law firms, and so on. And then there's this place. Anyone else got any idea where all these libraries are?
2:30 pm
Almost certainly this factoid includes a bunch of public school libraries and college/university libraries, the Library of Congress and other Federal government libraries, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and so on.
3:09 pm
I believe the LOC counts as 700 libraries, so there are only really 15 other libraries, but that seems like a stretch, too.
10:54 pm
This number might have come from the Washington Area Library Directory. (Check your local library for a copy.) Think about it. In addition to the "usual suspects" -- public library branches, academic libraries -- every law firm of any size has a library (that ought to be a thousand right there). Then there are the trade and professional associations. All the Federal government agencies. Embassies too. Not to mention the LOC -- counts as one.
Whatever else Washington DC is the capital of, there's a good case that it's the information capital of the world, too. That number 715? -- I think they missed some!