Table 701.40.

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures of degree-granting postsecondary institution libraries: Selected years, 2001-02 through 2017-18

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures	2001-02	2011-12	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17				2017-18
					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	3,568	3,793	4,134	3,999	3,944	1,559	1,612	773	3,710	1,557	1,592	561
Percentage of institutions with libraries	85.0	80.6	90.2	91.7	91.4	95.9	95.4	77.5	91.8	95.2	95.7	75.6
Number of circulation transactions (in thousands)	189,248	154,409	917,510	778,357	772,169	488,969	211,409	71,791	684,318	430,045	211,103	43,169
Physical transactions	---	---	81,182	67,796	58,199	34,649	22,852	699	52,923	31,233	21,180	510
Electronic transactions	---	---	836,328	710,561	713,970	454,321	188,557	71,092	631,395	398,812	189,923	42,659
Number of circulation transactions per full-time-     equivalent (FTE) student	16	10	60	52	52	46	61	79	46	41	61	52
Enrollment (in thousands)
Total enrollment1	15,928	20,994	20,209	19,988	19,847	14,586	4,079	1,182	19,778	14,572	4,108	1,098
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment1	11,766	15,886	15,263	15,079	14,938	10,572	3,454	912	14,884	10,569	3,480	835
Collections (in thousands)
Total number of physical and electronic materials     (books, media, and databases)	---	---	2,128,233	1,985,142	2,208,941	1,187,675	839,271	181,996	2,220,810	1,229,563	870,127	121,120
Number of books	---	---	1,711,851	1,573,341	1,650,727	888,340	640,464	121,923	1,638,949	895,176	664,182	79,591
Physical books	---	---	1,036,223	824,767	799,192	485,947	309,326	3,919	753,816	449,893	301,200	2,723
Electronic books	10,318	252,599	675,629	748,575	851,536	402,393	331,138	118,005	885,133	445,283	362,982	76,868
Number of media (includes audiovisual materials)	---	---	411,822	410,274	557,267	299,020	198,520	59,727	580,621	333,928	205,501	41,192
Physical media	---	---	253,826	190,049	194,763	130,052	64,262	448	180,139	122,995	56,812	333
Electronic media	---	---	157,996	220,225	362,505	168,968	134,258	59,279	400,482	210,933	148,689	40,860
Number of databases (electronic only)	---	---	4,560	1,527	947	314	288	345	1,239	459	444	336
Number of volumes at end of year	954,030	1,099,951	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes added during year	24,574	27,605	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of serial subscriptions at end of year2	9,855	---	---	222,010	289,411	111,782	85,615	92,014	292,351	101,983	93,612	96,757
Microform units at end of year	1,143,678	1,044,521	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	81	69	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of books per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	---	---	112	104	111	84	185	134	110	85	191	95
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) library staff
Total staff in regular positions3	69,526	65,242	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Librarians and professional staff	32,053	34,423	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other paid staff	37,473	30,819	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Contributed services	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Student assistants	25,305	20,509	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
FTE student enrollment per FTE staff member	169	243	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Library operating expenditures4
Total operating expenditures (in thousands of current     dollars)	$5,416,716	$7,008,114	$7,957,153	$8,085,556	$8,243,595	$4,841,464	$3,315,461	$86,670	$8,319,149	$4,901,850	$3,344,487	$72,812
Salaries and wages5	2,753,404	3,443,831	3,422,050	3,455,940	3,504,446	2,170,178	1,297,914	36,354	3,532,353	2,192,542	1,310,179	29,632
Fringe benefits	---	---	745,195	759,363	784,747	489,665	291,293	3,789	799,696	498,300	298,541	2,856
Computer hardware/software	155,791	143,660	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia	92,242	123,650	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Information resources	1,990,989	2,790,039	3,016,495	3,083,854	3,126,900	1,766,777	1,322,823	37,300	3,160,845	1,788,419	1,340,572	31,855
Books, serial backfiles, and other materials	---	---	604,100	614,389	604,279	297,370	302,963	3,947	578,445	285,239	289,860	3,346
Books and serial backfiles—paper	563,007	503,851	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Books and serial backfiles—electronic	44,792	180,570	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Audiovisual materials	37,041	37,022	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Ongoing commitments to subscriptions	---	---	2,217,573	2,287,252	2,353,844	1,377,729	945,151	30,964	2,402,573	1,404,720	971,206	26,647
Current serials—paper	926,105	487,265	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Current serials—electronic	297,657	1,436,671	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Preservation	46,499	26,838	32,339	42,353	28,422	14,605	13,740	78	26,490	12,525	13,543	421
Other materials/services expenditures	---	---	162,484	139,860	140,355	77,074	60,969	2,312	153,338	85,935	65,963	1,440
Document delivery/interlibrary loan	22,913	32,490	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other collection expenditures	52,976	85,334	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other library operating expenditures	424,290	506,934	773,413	786,399	827,502	414,844	403,431	9,226	826,254	422,589	395,195	8,470
Operating expenditures per full-time-equivalent     (FTE) student
In current dollars	460	441	521	536	552	458	960	95	559	464	961	87
In constant 2018-19 dollars6	654	491	558	570	576	478	1,002	99	571	473	981	89
Information resource expenditures per FTE student
In current dollars	169	176	198	205	209	167	383	41	212	169	385	38
In constant 2018-19 dollars6	241	195	211	217	218	174	400	43	217	173	393	39
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	50.8	49.1	43.0	42.7	42.5	44.8	39.1	41.9	42.5	44.7	39.2	40.7
Fringe benefits	---	---	9.4	9.4	9.5	10.1	8.8	4.4	9.6	10.2	8.9	3.9
Preservation	0.9	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.6
Information resources7	35.9	39.4	37.5	37.6	37.6	36.2	39.5	42.9	37.7	36.2	39.7	43.2
Other8	12.4	11.0	9.7	9.7	10.0	8.6	12.2	10.6	9.9	8.6	11.8	11.6

---Not available.

1 Fall enrollment for the academic year specified.

2 Includes electronic serials. If a single title comes in both paper and electronic formats, it counts as two subscriptions.

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 Expenditures on information resources exclude expenditures on preservation.

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

NOTE: Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Academic Libraries Survey (ALS), 2000 through 2012; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2015 through Spring 2018, Fall Enrollment component; and IPEDS Spring 2015 through Spring 2018, Academic Libraries component. (This table was prepared February 2020.)