Each year Dr. Dr. John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University compiles and publishes America ’s Most Literate Cities. “Cities” in Dr. Miller’s view are the 69 cities with 250,000 people or more.

The 2005 edition includes in its Top 10: 1. Seattle , WA 2. Minneapolis , MN 3. Washington , DC 4. Atlanta , GA 5. San Francisco , CA 6. Denver , CO 7. Boston , MA 8. Pittsburgh , PA with Cincinnati , OH and St. Paul , MN 9.5 tied. You will notice Dallas is not present. So where is Big D? At number 48 just behind Fort Worth which tied with Las Vegas for 44^th. As you might expect Austin was the highest ranked Texas City at 16. Other Texas cities on the list: 53. Houston 57. Arlington 64. San Antonio 67. Corpus Christi and 68. El Paso .

A total score was tallied for each city across six different literacy categories: Booksellers; Educational attainment; Internet Resources; Library Resources; Newspaper Circulation; and Periodical publications. All categories were compared against the city's total population.

The “Literary” portion of the study looked at 1. the n umber of retail bookstores per 10,000 population, 2. The number of rare and used bookstores per 10,000 populations, and 3. The number of members of the American Booksellers Association per 10,000 populations. Austin again ranked high at 16 with Fort Worth ranking 33 and Dallas 44.

The “Education” portion was indexed with three variables: 1. Percentage of the adult population with an educational level of 8th grade or less. 2. The percentage of the adult population with a high school diploma or higher. 3. The percentage of the adult population with a bachelor's degree or higher. The Texas results: Austin 13, Austin 17, Dallas 50 and Houston 51.

The third category was “Internet resources” was indexed as four variables. These numbers where then divided by the city population in order to calculate ratios of internet resources available to the population. The four variables included 1. The number of library Internet connection per 10,000 library service population 2. The number of commercial and public wireless Internet access points per capita 3. The number of Internet book orders per capita and 4. Percentage of adult population that has read newspaper on Internet. The results: 1. Austin 16, Houston 24, Fort worth 45, Arlington 57 and Dallas 61.

Five variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking: 1. The Number of school media personnel per 1,000 public school students 2. The number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population 3. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service population 4. Number of circulations per capita of library service population and 5. The number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service population. These numbers where then divided by the city population in order to calculate ratios of library services and resources available to the population.

The Fourth category was “library services” in which Dallas ranked 53^rd behind Fort Worth at 30^th and Austin at 33^rd. Houston was 57^th and Arlington dead last.

Newspaper circulation was indexed as two variables: 1. Weekday total circulation and 2. Sunday total circulation (it was unclear which set of Dallas Morning News figures was used) with both divided by total city population. Dallas ranked the highest of Texas cities at 27^th followed by Fort Worth at 34^th. Again Arlington was dead last at 69^th.

The final category was Publications with these two factors were used to derive a total score and consequent ranking: 1. Number of magazine publishers with circulation over 2,500 per 100,000 population and 2. Number of journals published with circulation over 500 per 100,000 populations. Dallas rated a respectable 38^th.

The study was well thought out and the statistics on which it is based seem valid. In other words this doesn’t seem an effort rigged to make the Texas yahoos look bad. No the verdict seems clear. We are yahoos. And when it comes to “literate” Dallas should be down right embarrassed.

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