• Introduction
• National Data Compared Across Years
• Regional Data Compared to National Data Across Years
• Regions Compared Across Years
• Each Region Compared to Other Regions in FY 96

The Public Library Trends Analysis report summarizes 5 years of public library data collected through the Public Libraries Survey (PLS), for fiscal years (FY) 1992-96. PLS is conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Federal-State Cooperative System for Public Library Data.

The purpose of this report is to identify and describe trends in public libraries for 24 selected variables, including library collections, services, operating income and expenditures, and staffing. The national, regional, and state data document how each of the 24 variables changed between FY 92 and FY 96. Librarians, library administrators and library boards, state library agencies, and others can use these trend data to facilitate the planning process, document the use of public funds, and identify services, collections, or resources that need additional support. The 24 selected variables that were analyzed in this report are listed in figure A.

This article presents key findings from the report in four areas: national data compared across the 5 years, regional data compared to national data across the 5 years, regions compared across the 5 years, and each region compared to the other regions for FY 96.

One of the major findings of the report is that, generally, public libraries experienced small increases but no substantial changes in the size of their collections, the number and use of primary services, the amounts of their operating income or expenditures, or the size of their staff.

The only variables that showed fairly substantial increases or significant decreases over the 5-year period were:

• videos per 1,000 population of legal service area, which increased an average of 16 percent annually (table A);¹
• number of library materials provided by one library to another upon request per 1,000 population of legal service area (hereafter referred to as interlibrary loans provided to other libraries), which increased an average of 9.7 percent annually (table B);
• number of library materials received by one library from another upon request per 1,000 population of legal service area (hereafter referred to as interlibrary loans received from other libraries), which also increased an average of 9.7 percent annually (table B); and turnover rate, which decreased an average of 1.2 percent annually (table B).²

To compare regional data, the report used the eight geographic regions provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce: New England, Mideast, Southeast, Southwest, Plains, Far West, Rocky Mountains, and Great Lakes.

Figure A.—Variables of interest

Table A.—National mean for collections variables, by year, and average annual percent change: Fiscal years 1992-96

Table B.—National mean for services variables, by year, and average annual percent change: Fiscal years 1992-96

Over the 5-year period, libraries in the New England, Mideast, Plains, and Great Lakes states generally exceeded the national average for 10 of the 14 collections, services, and staff variables,³ but for only 2 of the 10 financial variables. The two financial variables for which these four regions exceeded the national average were local operating income per capita and operating expenditures for collections per capita.

Generally, libraries in the Southeast, Southwest, and Far West states had substantially lower averages than the national average for 17 of the 24 collections, services, financial, and staff variables.⁴ However, the turnover rates for libraries in these three regions exceeded the national turnover rate.

Only libraries in the Great Lakes region had a higher average state operating income per capita than the national average, primarily because Ohio, one of the states in this region, receives almost two-thirds of its funding from state sources.

Over the 5-year period, libraries in the nation as a whole generally experienced small increases in the size of their collections, number and use of services, amounts of operating income and expenditures, and size of staff. Libraries in almost every region showed either small increases or—unlike libraries in the nation as a whole—small decreases in these variables, with a few exceptions. The notable exceptions to this finding are

• videos per 1,000 population of legal service area, in which all regions experienced dramatic increases (table C);
• reference transactions per capita, in which libraries in the Mideast and Southeast experienced average annual increases of 7.0 and 8.8 percent, respectively;
• interlibrary loans received from and provided to other libraries per 1,000 population of legal service area, in which libraries in New England experienced substantial annual increases (averaging 24.5 and 28.7 percent, respectively);
• state operating income per capita, in which libraries in New England experienced a moderate annual increase (an average of 11.9 percent) and libraries in the Southwest experienced a fairly substantial annual decrease (an average of -15.3 percent);
• percentage distribution of income from state sources, in which libraries in New England experienced a moderate annual increase (an average of 9.2 percent) and libraries in the Southwest experienced a moderate annual decrease (an average of -9.5 percent); and

• percentage distribution of income from federal sources, in which libraries in New England and the Mideast experienced fairly substantial annual increases (averaging 21.7 and 17.5 percent, respectively) and libraries in the Southwest and Plains regions experienced fairly substantial annual decreases (averaging -17.5 and -9.2 percent, respectively).

Generally, in FY 96, when compared to the other five regions, libraries in the New England, Great Lakes, and Mideast regions had higher averages for many (15 of the 24) variables of interest listed in figure A. This finding did not hold true for turnover rate, reference transactions per capita, net loan rate, local operating income per capita, state operating income per capita, and percent of income from local, state, federal, and other sources.

In FY 96, libraries in the Southeast, Southwest, and Far West, as compared to the other five regions, generally showed lower averages for many (16 of the 24) variables of interest. Variables that were exceptions to this finding include turnover rate, interlibrary loans provided to other libraries per 1,000 population of legal service area, state operating income per capita, operating expenditures for staff per capita, and percent of income from other sources.

Without further research, the reasons for these regional differences could not be determined. However, a correlation analysis is often used to describe the relationship between two variables. In this case, the correlation analysis indicated that libraries with higher circulation per capita tended to have higher total operating expenditures per capita. To a lesser degree, libraries with higher numbers of visits per capita also tended to have higher total operating expenditures per capita.

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