• Introduction
• Number of Public Libraries and Their Service Outlets and Legal Basis
• Operating Income and Expenditures
• Staffing and Collections
• Services
• Children's Services

The 40 tables in this report summarize information about public libraries in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year 1996.¹These data were collected through the ninth Public Libraries Survey (PLS). The survey is conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Federal-State Cooperative System (FSCS) for Public Library Data. FSCS is a cooperative system through which states and outlying areas submit individual public library data to NCES on a voluntary basis. NCES aggregates the data to provide the state and national totals presented in this report. Data are imputed for non responding libraries.

This report includes information about public library service measures, such as reference transactions, public service hours, interlibrary loans, circulation, library visits, children's program attendance, and circulation of children's materials. It also includes information about the number, type, legal basis, administrative structure, operating income and expenditures, staffing, and collections of public libraries, as well as summary information about the number and type of public library service outlets.

There were 8,946 public libraries (administrative entities) in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in FY 1996. Eleven percent of the public libraries served nearly 71 percent of the population of legally served areas in the United States; each of these public libraries had a legal service area population of 50,000 or more.

Over 80 percent of public libraries had one single direct service outlet (an outlet that provides service directly to the public). Just under 20percent had more than one direct service outlet. This report includes information about three types of public library service outlets: branch library outlets, central library outlets,²and bookmobile outlets. A total of 1,480 public libraries (over 16 percent) had one or more branch library outlets, with a total of 7,124 branches. The total number of central library outlets was 8,923. Thus, the total number of stationary outlets (central library outlets plus branch library outlets) was 16,047. Nine percent of public libraries had one or more bookmobile outlets, with a total of 966 bookmobiles.

Nearly 54 percent of public libraries were part of a municipal government, almost 12 percent were part of a county or parish, and nearly 6 percent had multi jurisdictional legal basis under an intergovernmental agreement. Almost 11 percent were nonprofit association or agency libraries, over 3percent were part of a school district, and 8 percent were separate government units known as library districts. Over 1 percent were combinations of academic and public libraries or of school and public libraries. About 6 percent reported their legal basis as "other."

Nearly 70 percent of public libraries were members of a system, federation, or cooperative service, while over 28 percent were not. Over 2percent served as the headquarters of a system, federation, or cooperative service.

In FY 1996, over 78 percent of public libraries' total operating income of about $5.9 billion came from local sources, over 12 percent from the state, 1 percent from federal sources, and close to 9 percent from other sources, such as gifts and donations, service fees, and fines.

Nationwide, total per capita³operating income for public libraries was $23.37. Of that, $18.26 was from local sources, $2.84 from state sources, $.23 from federal sources, and $2.03 from other sources. Per capita operating income from local sources was under $3.00for close to 12 percent of public libraries, $3.00 to $14.99 for over 48 percent of libraries, $15.00 to $29.99 for over 27 percent, and $30.00or more for 13 percent.

Total operating expenditures for public libraries were over $5.5 billion in FY 1996. Of this, over 64 percent was expended for paid staff and just over 15 percent for the library collection.

Close to 38 percent of public libraries had operating expenditures of less than $50,000, over 38 percent expended between $50,000 and $399,999, and close to 24 percent expended $400,000 or more. The average U.S. per capita operating expenditure for public libraries was $21.98. The highest average per capita operating expenditure in the 50 states was $38.19 and the lowest was $9.42.

Public libraries had a total of 117,812 paid full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff. Of these, over 23 percent were librarians with the ALA-MLS,⁴and nearly 10 percent were librarians by title but did not have the ALA-MLS. Close to 67 percent of staff were reported as "other."

Nationwide, public libraries had over 711 million books and serial volumes in their collections, or 2.8 volumes per capita. By state, the number of volumes per capita ranged from 1.5 to 5.2. In addition to printed materials, public libraries nationwide had collections of over 25 million audio materials and over 13 million video materials.

In FY 1996, total nationwide circulation of public library materials was over 1.6 billion, or 6.5 per capita. The highest statewide circulation per capita was 12.4 and the lowest as 2.8.

Nationwide,

• over 10.5 million library materials were loaned by public libraries to other libraries;
• reference transactions in public libraries totaled over 284 million, or 1.1 per capita; and
• library visits in public libraries totaled over 1 billion, or 4 per capita.

Nationwide, circulation of children's materials was nearly 571 million, or close to 35 percent of total circulation. Attendance at children's programs was over 42 million.