GENERAL LIBRARY INFORMATION AND STATISTICS

(Note: U.S. Dept. of Education reports refer to FY 2003 and FY 2001)

There are an estimated 117,664 libraries in the United States, with 93,861 school libraries, 9,211 public libraries, 9,526 special libraries, 3,527 academic libraries, and 1,539 government and armed forces libraries (“Number of Libraries”).

http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet1.htm

In 2002-2003, there were 1 million libraries worldwide, with nearly 140,000 in the United States, with 16 billion volumes in holdings worth approximately $720 billion (“Libraries: How They Stack Up”).

http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf

In 2003, libraries’ worldwide expenditures were $31 billion, with U.S. libraries comprising $14 billion of that number (“Libraries: How They Stack Up”).

http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf

In 2003, there were 690,000 librarians around the globe, with 203,000 librarians in the United States (“Libraries: How They Stack Up”).

http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf

U.S. Public libraries served 97 percent of the total population in 2003, no change from 2001 (United States Dept. of Education; Chute et al).

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_5/5_2/q5_1.asp

Nationwide, library visits to public libraries totaled 1.3 billion, up from 1.2 billion in 2001 (United States Dept. of Education; Chute et al).

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_5/5_2/q5_1.asp

In 2003, public libraries had 802 million print materials in their collections up from 767.1 million in 2001, 37.4 million audio materials (34.3 million in 2001) and 32.6 million video materials (25.2 million video materials ) in their collections (United States Dept. of Education; Chute et al).

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_5/5_2/q5_1.asp

In 2003, total nationwide circulation of U.S. public library materials was 2 billion, (7 materials circulated per capita), compared to 1.9 billion in FY 2002, and 1.8 billion in 2001 (United States Dept. of Education; “Public Library Use”; “Libraries: How They Stack Up”).

<http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf>

<http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet6.htm>

<http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf>

In FY 2003, uses of public library electronic resources per year totaled 331.9 million; Internet terminals available for public use in public libraries nationwide numbered 157,000, or 2.8 per 5,000 population (United States Dept. of Education).

<http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf>

Nationwide, reference transactions in public libraries totaled 302.3 million in 2003, up from 296.2 million in 2001 (United States Dept. of Education; Chute et al).

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_5/5_2/q5_1.asp

U.S. public libraries had a total of 136,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff in 2003, compared to 133,000 in 2001 (United States Dept. of Education; Chute et al).

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005363_1.pdf

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_5/5_2/q5_1.asp

In 2004, averages starting salaries of new library school graduates were $39,079, an increase of 3 percent over the 2003 average of $37,975 (Maata).

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6269428.html