Table 481.

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures of degree-granting institution libraries: Selected years, 1981-82 through 2009-10

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures	1981-82		1987-88	1991-92	1997-98	2001-02	2003-04	2005-06	2007-08	2009-10
										Total	Public	Private nonprofit	Private for-profit
1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Number of libraries	3,104		3,438	3,274	3,658	3,568	3,653	3,617	3,827	3,689	1,559	1,449	681
Percentage of institutions with libraries	—		—	—	90.0	85.0	86.2	84.6	87.9	82.1	93.2	89.2	56.8
Number of circulation transactions (in thousands)	—		—	—	216,067	189,248	200,204	187,236	178,766	176,736	116,084	58,660	1,992
Number of circulation transactions per full-time-
equivalent (FTE) student	—		—	—	20	16	16	14	13	11	11	18	1
Enrollment (in thousands)
Total enrollment1	12,372		12,767	14,359	14,502	15,928	16,911	17,487	18,248	20,428	14,811	3,765	1,852
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment1	9,015		9,230	10,361	10,615	11,766	12,688	13,201	13,783	15,496	10,750	3,178	1,568
Collections (in thousands)
Number of volumes at end of year	567,826		718,504	749,429	878,906	954,030	982,590	1,015,658	1,052,531	1,076,027	654,865	416,144	5,019
Number of volumes added during year	19,507		21,907	20,982	24,551	24,574	24,615	22,241	23,990	27,164	15,249	11,419	495
Number of serial subscriptions at end of year2	4,890		6,416	6,966	10,908	9,855	12,764	16,361	25,342	25,041	13,714	10,869	459
Microform units at end of year	—		—	—	1,062,082	1,143,678	1,173,287	1,166,295	1,157,365	1,124,941	768,270	355,326	1,344
E-books at end of year	—		—	—	—	10,318	32,775	64,366	102,502	158,652	91,552	61,554	5,546
Number of volumes per full-time-equivalent (FTE)
student	63		78	72	83	81	77	77	76	69	61	131	3
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) library staff
Total staff in regular positions3	58,476		67,251	67,166	68,337	69,526	69,047	69,615	69,328	66,562	40,907	24,092	1,563
Librarians and professional staff	23,816		25,115	26,341	30,041	32,053	32,280	33,265	34,520	34,147	19,706	13,166	1,274
Other paid staff	34,660		40,733	40,421	38,026	37,473	36,767	36,350	34,808	32,415	21,201	10,925	289
Contributed services	—		1,403	404	270	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Student assistants	—		33,821	29,075	28,373	25,305	25,038	23,976	24,110	22,382	12,700	9,017	665
FTE student enrollment per FTE staff member	154		137	154	155	169	184	190	199	233	263	132	1,003
Library operating expenditures4
Total operating expenditures (in thousands
of current dollars)	$1,943,769		$2,770,075	$3,648,654	$4,592,657	$5,416,716	$5,751,247	$6,234,192	$6,785,542	$6,829,108	$4,019,666	$2,697,599	$111,843
Salaries and wages	914,379	5	1,451,551	1,889,368	2,314,380	2,753,404	2,913,221	3,102,561	3,342,082	3,401,649	2,055,389	1,280,579	65,681
Student hourly wages	100,847		(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)
Fringe benefits	167,515		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Preservation	30,351		34,144	43,126	42,919	46,499	42,976	41,102	41,591	31,212	17,436	13,682	94
Furniture/equipment	—		—	—	57,013	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Computer hardware/software	—		—	—	164,379	155,791	143,042	153,002	158,698	142,652	92,073	48,684	1,894
Bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia	—		—	—	89,618	92,242	101,293	106,268	113,427	117,838	67,772	49,028	1,037
Information resources7	561,199		891,281	1,197,293	1,600,995	1,944,490	2,114,555	2,334,382	2,621,491	2,649,086	1,514,816	1,094,136	40,135
Books and serial backfiles—paper	—		—	—	514,048	563,007	550,599	572,228	611,192	515,942	277,021	229,619	9,301
Books and serial backfiles—electronic	—		—	—	28,061	44,792	65,597	93,778	133,586	152,359	87,571	60,255	4,533
Current serials—paper	—		—	—	849,399	926,105	883,534	830,137	699,906	536,357	296,777	232,210	7,370
Current serials—electronic	—		—	—	125,470	297,657	480,138	691,585	1,004,393	1,249,726	760,412	474,194	15,121
Audiovisual materials	—		—	23,879	30,623	37,041	35,216	39,029	43,849	55,659	23,165	30,145	2,350
Document delivery/interlibrary loan	—		—	—	19,309	22,913	24,823	26,513	30,496	33,679	20,679	11,953	1,047
Other collection expenditures	561,199		891,281	1,173,414	34,086	52,976	74,648	81,113	98,069	105,364	49,191	55,760	413
Other library operating expenditures	169,478		393,099	518,867	323,354	424,290	436,160	496,877	508,253	486,672	272,179	211,491	3,002
Operating expenditures per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student
In current dollars	216		300	352	433	460	453	472	492	441	374	849	71
In constant 2011-12 dollars8	521		590	580	609	588	554	540	529	463	393	891	75
Information resource expenditures per FTE student
In current dollars	62		97	116	151	165	167	177	190	171	141	344	26
In constant 2011-12 dollars8	151		190	190	212	211	204	202	204	179	148	362	27
Operating expenditures (percentage distribution)	100.0		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Salaries and wages	47.0		52.4	51.8	50.4	50.8	50.7	49.8	49.3	49.8	51.1	47.5	58.7
Student hourly wages	5.2		(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)	(6)
Fringe benefits	8.6		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Preservation	1.6		1.2	1.2	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.5	0.1
Information resources	28.9		32.2	32.8	34.9	35.9	36.8	37.4	38.6	38.8	37.7	40.6	35.9
Other9	8.7		14.2	14.2	13.8	12.4	11.8	12.1	11.5	10.9	10.7	11.5	5.3
Library operating expenditures as a percent of
total institutional expenditures for
educational and general purposes	3.5		3.2	3.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

—Not available.

1 Fall enrollment for the academic year specified.

2 For 1997-98 and later years, includes microform and electronic serials.

3 Excludes student assistants.

4 Excludes capital outlay.

5 Includes salary equivalents of contributed services staff.

6 Included under salaries and wages.

7 Includes resources not listed.

8 Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis.

9 Includes furniture/equipment, computer hardware/software, and bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia as well as expenditures classified as "other library operating expenditures."

NOTE: Data through 1995 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that did not grant degrees. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Library Statistics of Colleges and Universities, 1981-82; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Academic Libraries Survey" (IPEDS-L:88-98), "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:87-98), and IPEDS Spring 2002 through Spring 2010, Enrollment component; Academic Libraries Survey (ALS), 2000 through 2010; and Academic Libraries: 2010 (NCES 2012-365). (This table was prepared November 2012.)