Table 701.40.

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures of degree-granting postsecondary institution libraries: Selected years, 1991-92 through 2016-17

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures	1991-92	2001-02	2011-12	2014-15	2015-16				2016-17
					Total	Public	Private nonprofit	Private for-profit	Total	Public	Private nonprofit	Private for-profit
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Number of libraries	3,274	3,568	3,793	4,134	3,999	1,558	1,611	830	3,944	1,559	1,612	773
Percentage of institutions with libraries	---	85.0	80.6	90.2	91.7	96.0	95.8	78.7	91.4	95.9	95.4	77.5
Number of circulation transactions (in thousands)	---	189,248	154,409	917,510	778,357	450,032	229,091	99,235	768,383	473,808	211,565	83,010
Physical transactions (includes serials)	---	---	---	81,182	67,796	41,240	25,504	1,053	58,244	34,691	22,855	699
Electronic transactions (does not include serials)	---	---	---	836,328	710,561	408,792	203,587	98,182	710,139	439,117	188,710	82,311
Number of circulation transactions per full-time- equivalent (FTE) student	---	16	10	60	52	43	67	93	51	45	61	91
Enrollment (in thousands)
Total enrollment1	14,359	15,928	20,994	20,209	19,988	14,573	4,066	1,349	19,847	14,586	4,079	1,182
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment1	10,361	11,766	15,886	15,263	15,079	10,570	3,441	1,068	14,938	10,572	3,454	912
Collections (in thousands)
Total number of physical and electronic materials    (books, media, and databases)	---	---	---	2,128,233	1,985,142	1,078,659	716,292	190,191	2,209,958	1,188,603	839,164	182,191
Number of books	---	---	---	1,711,851	1,573,341	854,394	594,267	124,681	1,651,471	888,869	640,484	122,118
Physical books	---	---	---	1,036,223	824,767	508,288	312,466	4,013	799,263	485,998	309,346	3,918
Electronic books	---	10,318	252,599	675,629	748,575	346,106	281,801	120,668	852,208	402,871	331,138	118,200
Number of media (includes audiovisual materials)	---	---	---	411,822	410,274	223,725	121,376	65,172	557,541	299,421	198,393	59,727
Physical media	---	---	---	253,826	190,049	135,924	53,580	545	194,634	130,051	64,135	448
Electronic media	---	---	---	157,996	220,225	87,801	67,797	64,627	362,907	169,370	134,258	59,279
Number of databases (electronic only)	---	---	---	4,560	1,527	540	649	338	946	313	288	345
Number of volumes at end of year	749,429	954,030	1,099,951	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes added during year	20,982	24,574	27,605	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of serials at end of year2	6,966	9,855	---	---	222,010	124,399	75,307	22,303	290,224	112,429	85,801	91,994
Microform units at end of year	---	1,143,678	1,044,521	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	72	81	69	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of books per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	---	---	---	112	104	81	173	117	111	84	185	134
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) library staff
Total staff in regular positions3	67,166	69,526	65,242	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Librarians and professional staff	26,341	32,053	34,423	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other paid staff	40,421	37,473	30,819	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Contributed services	404	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Student assistants	29,075	25,305	20,509	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
FTE student enrollment per FTE staff member	154	169	243	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Library operating expenditures4
Total operating expenditures (in thousands of current    dollars)	$3,648,654	$5,416,716	$7,008,114	$7,957,153	$8,085,556	$4,749,633	$3,248,421	$87,502	$8,233,469	$4,835,333	$3,312,472	$85,664
Salaries and wages5	1,889,368	2,753,404	3,443,831	3,422,050	3,455,940	2,127,768	1,290,595	37,577	3,499,591	2,168,144	1,295,935	35,512
Fringe benefits	---	---	---	745,195	759,363	467,031	288,499	3,833	780,980	486,278	290,912	3,789
Computer hardware/software	---	155,791	143,660	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia	---	92,242	123,650	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Information resources	1,240,419	1,990,989	2,790,039	3,016,495	3,083,854	1,753,092	1,292,472	38,290	3,126,353	1,766,804	1,322,388	37,161
Books, serial backfiles, and other materials	---	---	---	604,100	614,389	312,052	297,454	4,883	606,196	298,142	304,108	3,947
Books and serial backfiles—paper	---	563,007	503,851	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Books and serial backfiles—electronic	---	44,792	180,570	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Audiovisual materials	23,879	37,041	37,022	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Ongoing commitments to subscriptions	---	---	---	2,217,573	2,287,252	1,338,496	918,941	29,816	2,349,849	1,375,453	943,571	30,824
Current serials—paper	---	926,105	487,265	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Current serials—electronic	---	297,657	1,436,671	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Preservation	43,126	46,499	26,838	32,339	42,353	27,142	15,095	115	28,459	14,642	13,740	78
Other materials/services expenditures	---	---	---	162,484	139,860	75,401	60,982	3,477	141,848	78,567	60,969	2,312
Document delivery/interlibrary loan	---	22,913	32,490	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other collection expenditures	1,173,414	52,976	85,334	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other library operating expenditures	518,867	424,290	506,934	773,413	786,399	401,743	376,854	7,802	826,546	414,106	403,237	9,202
Operating expenditures per full-time-equivalent    (FTE) student
In current dollars	352	460	441	521	536	449	944	82	551	457	959	94
In constant 2017-18 dollars6	632	641	481	547	558	468	983	85	564	468	981	96
Information resource expenditures per FTE student
In current dollars	120	169	176	198	205	166	376	36	209	167	383	41
In constant 2017-18 dollars6	215	236	191	207	213	173	391	37	214	171	391	42
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 wages5	51.8	50.8	49.1	43.0	42.7	44.8	39.7	42.9	42.5	44.8	39.1	41.5
Fringe benefits	---	---	---	9.4	9.4	9.8	8.9	4.4	9.5	10.1	8.8	4.4
Preservation	1.2	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.1
Information resources	32.8	35.9	39.4	37.5	37.6	36.3	39.3	43.6	37.6	36.2	39.5	43.3
Other7	14.2	12.4	11.0	9.7	9.7	8.5	11.6	8.9	10.0	8.6	12.2	10.7
Library operating expenditures as a percent of    total institutional expenditures for   educational and general purposes	3.0	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

---Not available.

1 Fall enrollment for the academic year specified.

2 For 2001-02 and later years, includes electronic serials. If a single title comes in both paper and electronic formats, it counts as two serials.

3 Excludes student assistants.

4 Excludes capital outlay. Expenditure data are reported only by degree-granting institutions with total expenditures over $100,000.

5 Includes student hourly wages.

6 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.

7 Includes computer hardware/software, bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia, and "other library operating expenditures" not individually listed.

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, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Academic Libraries Survey" (IPEDS-L:92) and "Fall Enrollment Survey" (IPEDS-EF:92); Academic Libraries Survey (ALS), 2000 through 2012; IPEDS Spring 2015 through Spring 2017, Fall Enrollment component; and IPEDS Spring 2015 through Spring 2017, Academic Libraries component. (This table was prepared July 2019.)