• Introduction
• Highlights
• Reference

The tables in this report summarize information about public libraries in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year (FY) 1999. (Data from two outlying areas, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, are also included in the tables,¹ but not in the table totals.) The data were collected through the Public Libraries Survey (PLS), conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Federal-State Cooperative System (FSCS) for Public Library Data. The FY 99 survey is the 12th in the series.²

This report includes information about service measures such as access to the Internet and other electronic services, reference transactions, public service hours, interlibrary loans, circulation, library visits, children’s program attendance, and circulation of children’s materials. It also includes information about size of collection, staffing, operating income and expenditures, type of geographic service area, type of legal basis, type of administrative structure, and number and type of public library service outlets.³ Data were imputed for nonresponding libraries.

• There were 9,046 public libraries (administrative entities) in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in FY 99.
  
• Ninety-seven percent⁴ of the total population of the states and the District of Columbia had access to public library services, and 3 percent did not.
  
• Eleven percent of the public libraries served 72 percent of the population of legally served areas in the United States; each of these public libraries had a legal service area population of 50,000 or more.
  
• Eighty-one percent of public libraries had one single direct service outlet (an outlet that provides service directly to the public). Nineteen percent had more than one direct service outlet. Types of direct service outlets include central library outlets, branch library outlets, and bookmobile outlets.
  
• A total of 1,505 public libraries (17 percent) had one or more branch library outlets, with a total of 7,337 branches. The total number of central library outlets was 8,883. The total number of stationary outlets (central library outlets and branch library outlets) was 16,220. Nine percent of public libraries had one or more bookmobile outlets, with a total of 907 bookmobiles.

• In FY 99, 55 percent of public libraries were part of a municipal government, 11 percent were part of a county/parish, 1 percent were part of a city/county, 5 percent had multijurisdictional legal basis under an intergovernmental agreement, 10 percent were nonprofit association or agency libraries, 3 percent were part of a school district, and 8 percent were separate government units known as library districts. Six percent reported their legal basis as “other.”
  
• Seventy-five percent of public libraries were members of a system, federation, or cooperative service, while 22 percent were not.⁵ Three percent served as the headquarters of a system, federation, or cooperative service.

• In FY 99, 78 percent of public libraries’ total operating income of about $7.1 billion came from local sources, 13 percent from state sources, 1 percent from federal sources, and 9 percent from other sources, such as monetary gifts and donations, interest, library fines, and fees.
  
• Nationwide, the average total per capita⁶ operating income for public libraries was $27.20. Of that, $21.13 was from local sources, $3.45 from state sources, $.17 from federal sources, and $2.44 from other sources.
  
• Per capita operating income from local sources was under $3.00 for 10 percent of public libraries, $3.00 to $14.99 for 41 percent of libraries, $15.00 to $29.99 for 31 percent of libraries, and $30.00 or more for 18 percent of libraries.
  
• Total operating expenditures for public libraries were $6.6 billion in FY 99. Of this, 64 percent was expended for paid staff and 15 percent for the library collection.
  
• Thirty-four percent of public libraries had operating expenditures of less than $50,000, 40 percent expended $50,000 to $399,999, and 26 percent expended $400,000 or more.
  
• Nationwide, the average per capita operating expenditure for public libraries was $25.25. The highest average per capita operating expenditure in the 50 states and the District of Columbia was $46.41 and the lowest was $11.00.
  
• Expenditures for library collection materials in electronic format were 1 percent of total operating expenditures for public libraries. Expenditures for electronic access were 3 percent of total operating expenditures.

• Public libraries had a total of 127,890 paid full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff in FY 99, or 12.18 paid FTE staff per 25,000 population. Of these, 23 percent, or 2.7 per 25,000 population, were librarians with the ALA-MLS,⁷ and 10 percent were librarians by title but did not have the ALA-MLS. Sixty-seven percent of the staff were in other positions.
  
• Nationwide, public libraries had 747 million books and serial volumes in their collections, or 2.8 volumes per capita. By state, the number of volumes per capita ranged from 1.7 to 5.0.
  
• Public libraries nationwide had 30 million audio materials and 19 million video materials in their collections.
  
• Nationwide, public libraries provided 5.1 materials in electronic format per 1,000 population (e.g., CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and magnetic disks).

• Nationwide, 92 percent of public libraries had access to the Internet. Eighty-three percent of all public libraries made the Internet available to patrons directly or through a staff intermediary, 5 percent of public libraries made the Internet available to patrons through a staff intermediary only, and 4 percent of public libraries made the Internet available only to library staff.
  
• Ninety-seven percent⁸ of the unduplicated population of legal service areas had access to the Internet through their local public library.
  
• Nationwide, 78 percent of public libraries provided access to electronic services.⁹
  
• Total nationwide circulation of public library materials was 1.7 billion, or 6.4 materials circulated per capita. The highest circulation per capita in the 50 states and the District of Columbia was 12.4 and the lowest was 2.7.
  
• Nationwide, 14 million library materials were loaned by public libraries to other libraries.
  
• Nationwide, reference transactions in public libraries totaled 295 million, or 1.1 reference transactions per capita.
  
• Nationwide, library visits in public libraries totaled 1.1 billion, or 4.3 library visits per capita.

• Nationwide, circulation of children’s materials was 612 million, or 36 percent of total circulation. Attendance at children’s programs was 48 million.

Glover, D. (2001). Public Library Trends Analysis: Fiscal Years 1992–1996 (NCES 2001–324). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.