Unalaska, AK – In the next month, Library Journal - a magazine for library professionals - will be running a lengthy article on America's best library facilities. Featured in its pages is Unalaska's own public library. It's been named a star library for the third year in a row, an honor bestowed by the American Library Association, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the publishing company and trade group R.R. Bowker. Two hundred fifty-six libraries are named star libraries; there are approximately 122,000 libraries in the nation.

The honor considers services provided, like the offering of programs and the presence of computer rooms.

Dan Masoni is the head librarian here, and he explains how the ratings are determined.

"It's based not only on our statistical analysis that's done by the state library and IMLS, but also based on surveys they do both with patrons - which we don't necessarily know about because they're done by phone, I'm pretty sure - and also they survey other libraries we serve with inter-library loans materials, reference questions we get from other libraries, that sort of thing," says Masoni. "So it's a professional as well as a public process to determine how well we do our job."

The Unalaska Public Library is unique in a few regards. First, it's one of the major sources of reading material and films in a town without dedicated bookstores and movie rental places. It also serves more than just the local community.

"The city council has decide right since the time they founded the building that they want to serve the fleet as well as the community as support to the fishing industry," says Masoni. "We issue cards to anyone who wants them. A lot of other libraries don't do that."