Introduction

This report is based on information from the Federal Libraries and Information Centers Survey, FY 1994. This survey was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education with additional support from the Federal Library and Information Center Committee of the Library of Congress. The Bureau of the Census acted as collecting agent for NCES. The data in this report come from the Federal libraries and information centers that meet certain criteria (see page 2 of the form), which includes having at least one paid part-time or full-time principal staff person. At the national level, 94.1 percent of the libraries and information centers responded. Data were not imputed for nonrespondents. Caution should be exercised when using estimates with lower response rates. Data were suppressed in the tables per NCES statistical standard when the total response rate was less than 70 percent. Total response equals unit response rate multiplied by item response rate. Response columns on each table represent both unit and item unit response. See Table 1 for the number and percent of responding Federal libraries and information centers by governmental organization.

The tables in this publication summarize staffing, collections, service per typical week, automation, technology, and preservation for Federal libraries and information centers in the 50 states and District of Columbia; excluding elementary and secondary school libraries (see Methodology section for more detail). The requests and searches service data are per typical week FY 1994; whereas, the remainder of the data are annual FY 1994. FY 1994 is defined as the most recent complete fiscal year that ended prior to October 1, 1994.

The Federal Libraries and Information Centers Survey updates the Federal library statistics last collected in 1978. The survey will also help establish a current national profile of Federal libraries and information centers.