________________________________________________________________________________
                      |         |              | Number |          |
                      |         |              |of books|          |   Public
                      | Number  |  Number of   |  and   | Library  |  library
        State         |   of    |  books and   | serial |  visits  | reference
                      | public  |    serial    |volumes |   per    |transactions
                      |libraries|  volumes\1\  |  per   |capita \2\|    per
                      |         |(in thousands)| capita |          | capita \3\
______________________|_________|______________|________|__________|____________
          1           |    2    |      3       |   4    |    5     |     6
______________________|_________|______________|________|__________|____________
  United States.......|   8,946 |      642,617 |    2.7 |      4.0 |        1.0
                      |_________|______________|________|__________|____________
Alabama ..............|     204 |        6,835 |    1.8 |      --- |        0.5
Alaska ...............|      85 |        1,855 |    3.2 |      4.7 |        0.7
Arizona ..............|      39 |        7,225 |    1.9 |      4.5 |        1.1
Arkansas .............|      36 |        4,607 |    2.0 |      2.4 |        0.4
California ...........|     168 |       58,136 |    1.9 |      4.3 |        1.3
                      |         |              |        |          |
Colorado .............|     120 |        8,977 |    2.7 |      3.9 |        1.0
Connecticut ..........|     194 |       12,523 |    4.1 |      6.5 |        1.1
Delaware .............|      29 |        1,209 |    1.8 |      3.1 |        0.5
District of Columbia .|       1 |        1,881 |    3.1 |      4.0 |        1.8
Florida ..............|     110 |       20,954 |    1.7 |      --- |        1.4
                      |         |              |        |          |
Georgia ..............|      54 |       13,557 |    2.0 |      2.7 |        0.7
Hawaii ...............|       1 |        3,011 |    2.7 |      3.1 |        1.1
Idaho ................|     107 |        2,778 |    3.5 |      4.8 |        0.8
Illinois .............|     607 |       33,464 |    3.3 |      5.4 |        1.2
Indiana ..............|     238 |       18,732 |    3.6 |      5.6 |        1.0
                      |         |              |        |          |
Iowa .................|     517 |       10,562 |    3.8 |      5.0 |        0.7
Kansas ...............|     320 |        8,333 |    4.1 |      5.5 |        1.1
Kentucky .............|     116 |        7,123 |    2.0 |      2.6 |        0.3
Louisiana ............|      64 |        9,133 |    2.1 |      2.2 |        0.7
Maine ................|     226 |        4,790 |    4.9 |      4.9 |        ---
                      |         |              |        |          |
Maryland .............|      24 |       14,013 |    3.0 |      4.4 |        1.3
Massachusetts ........|     374 |       27,203 |    4.6 |      --- |        ---
Michigan .............|     377 |       23,359 |    2.5 |      3.2 |        0.8
Minnesota ............|     133 |       11,820 |    2.7 |      4.6 |        1.3
Mississippi ..........|      47 |        5,000 |    1.9 |      2.4 |        0.4
                      |         |              |        |          |
Missouri .............|     143 |       18,107 |    3.8 |      4.1 |        0.6
Montana ..............|      83 |        2,480 |    3.1 |      3.5 |        0.6
Nebraska .............|     269 |        4,859 |    3.8 |      --- |        ---
Nevada ...............|      26 |        2,325 |    1.7 |      3.1 |        0.8
New Hampshire ........|     232 |        4,695 |    5.5 |      6.1 |        0.9
                      |         |              |        |          |
New Jersey ...........|     310 |       28,263 |    3.7 |      4.9 |        0.8
New Mexico ...........|      74 |        4,053 |    3.7 |      --- |        ---
New York .............|     761 |       64,446 |    3.6 |      4.6 |        1.2
North Carolina .......|      74 |       12,491 |    1.9 |      3.1 |        0.8
North Dakota .........|      90 |        1,919 |    3.6 |      4.1 |        0.6
                      |         |              |        |          |
Ohio .................|     250 |       38,595 |    3.5 |      5.1 |        1.4
Oklahoma .............|     110 |        5,518 |    2.2 |      --- |        0.8
Oregon ...............|     125 |        6,382 |    2.3 |      --- |        ---
Pennsylvania .........|     446 |       23,848 |    2.1 |      2.9 |        0.7
Rhode Island .........|      51 |        3,633 |    3.9 |      5.4 |        0.0
                      |         |              |        |          |
South Carolina .......|      40 |        5,833 |    1.7 |      2.5 |        0.7
South Dakota .........|     116 |        2,244 |    3.9 |      4.6 |        0.4
Tennessee ............|     136 |        7,936 |    1.6 |      2.5 |        0.7
Texas ................|     484 |       31,141 |    2.0 |      2.8 |        1.0
Utah .................|      69 |        4,578 |    2.7 |      --- |        ---
                      |         |              |        |          |
Vermont ..............|     205 |        2,359 |    4.7 |      --- |        ---
Virginia .............|      90 |       14,626 |    2.4 |      4.4 |        1.1
Washington ...........|      70 |       12,876 |    2.6 |      --- |        ---
West Virginia ........|      98 |        4,362 |    2.4 |      3.3 |        0.8
Wisconsin ............|     380 |       15,962 |    3.2 |      5.7 |        1.1
Wyoming ..............|      23 |        2,006 |    4.3 |      4.6 |        0.8
______________________|_________|______________|________|__________|____________

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries in the United States: 1992. (This table was prepared June 1994.)