Number of Libraries in the United States
ALA Library Fact Sheet 1
There are an estimated 122,105 libraries of all kinds in the United States today. No annual survey provides statistics on all types of libraries.
Figures for public, academic, and school libraries come from surveys by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Specifically, the public libraries numbers come from the IMLS Public Library Survey, from the latest report in the series, Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2009 (2011). The numbers for academic and school libraries come from the NCES Schools and Staffing Survey and the Library Statistics Program surveys: Academic Libraries: 2008 First Look (2010); Characteristics of Public and Bureau of Indian Education Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Centers in the United States: Results from the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey for the number of school library media centers in public and BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) schools; and Table 421. Selected statistics on school libraries/media centers, by control and level of school: 1999-2000 and 2003-04 from the 2008 Digest of Education Statistics for the number of school library media centers in private schools (more recent library media center data for private schools have not been collected because of NCES budget constraints).
Figures for special libraries, armed forces libraries, and government libraries come from the American Library DirectoryTM 2010-2011, which is a two-volume set currently published by Information Today, Inc. Find out more about this annual publication, now in its 63rd edition, at the Information Today, Inc. web site, at: http://books.infotoday.com/directories/American-Library-Directory.shtml (Information Today, Inc., Attn: Customer Service, 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford NJ 08055-8750; telephone: 1-609-654-6266; fax: 1-609-654-4309; e-mail: custserv@infotoday.com; online database version: http://americanlibrarydirectory.com).
|
Public Libraries (administrative units) |
9,225 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Buildings* | 9,046 | ||
| Branch Buildings | 7,652 | ||
| Total Buildings | 16,698 | ||
|
Academic Libraries |
3,827 |
||
| Less than four-year | 1,434 | ||
| Four-year and above | 2,393 | ||
|
School Libraries |
99,180 |
||
| Public schools | 81,920 | ||
| Private schools | 17,100 | ||
| BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) | 160 | ||
|
Special Libraries** |
8,476 | ||
|
Armed Forces Libraries |
284 | ||
|
Government Libraries |
1,113 | ||
|
Total |
122,105 |
* The number of central buildings is different from the number of public libraries because some public library systems have no central building and some have more than one. Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2009 (2011) specifically explains in a footnote to Table 3: Of the 9,225 public libraries in the 50 States and DC, 7,466 were single-outlet libraries and 1,759 were multiple-outlet libraries. Single-outlet libraries are a central library, bookmobile, or books-by-mail-only outlet. Multiple-outlet libraries have two or more direct service outlets, including some combination of one central library, branch(es), bookmobile(s), and/or books-by-mail-only outlets.
* * Special libraries include Corporate, Medical, Law, Religious, etc.
NOTE from American Library DirectoryTM 2010-2011 (page xii): "Branch records for academic and government libraries are no longer counted within these breakdowns, causing some discrepancy when comparing figures with previous editions. This does not affect the total number of libraries listed in the American Library DirectoryTM." Please contact Lauri Rimler at Information Today, Inc. with any questions regarding this.
For the purposes of ALA Library Fact Sheet 1, this counting difference actually most affected the American Library Directory's Total Special Libraries number; the 2009-2010 edition reported 8,906 Total Special Libraries, while the 2010-2011 edition reported 8,476 Total Special Libraries.
Additional questions about libraries in the United States might be answered on one of these fact sheets: ALA Library Fact Sheet 2 - Number Employed in Libraries, ALA Library Fact Sheet 3 - Lists of Libraries and ALA Library Fact Sheet 5 - Marketing to Libraries, and ALA Library Fact Sheet 22 - The Nation's Largest Libraries. A Listing By Volumes Held.
Last updated: October 2011