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Facts and Figures

How many libraries are there in the United States?

All together, there are an estimated 123,291 libraries of all kinds in the United States today. This estimate includes all types of libraries: public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries (meaning community college, college and university libraries), and special libraries, which includes business and corporate, medical, law, religious, armed forces, and government libraries. For the specific numbers breakdown, see the ALA Library Fact Sheet 1 - Number of Libraries in the United States.

What Are the Biggest Libraries in the United States?

Public and academic libraries have certainly been getting larger in size, multiplying in square footage in both new buildings and renovations. However, our size ranking takes into account the number of volumes in these libraries. A volume is similar in meaning to a book, in that it means a single unit of work. Listed below are the Top Ten Libraries in the United States, public and academic, from number ten to number one. The complete list can be found on the ALA Library Fact Sheet 22 - The Nation's Largest Libraries: A Listing By Volumes Held.

How many people visit libraries?

As we recently reported, libraries are used now more than ever in this age of Internet. Ten years after some experts predicted the demise of the nation's system of libraries as a result of the Internet explosion, the most current national data on library use shows that the exact opposite has happened. Our data indicates that the number of visits to public libraries in the United States increased 61 percent between 1994 and 2004. According to the our 2007 State of America's Libraries report, there were nearly two billion visits to U.S. libraries in fiscal year 2004. A full copy of the 2007 State of America's Libraries is available at http://www.ala.org/2007State.

How many people work in libraries in the United States?

There are an estimated 150,000 professional librarians in the United States today, and over 250,000 additional paraprofessional library workers, including library technicians, library assistants (clerical), and many more types of library support staff. For the specific numbers breakdown, see the ALA Library Fact Sheet 2 - Number Employed in Libraries.

How much does it cost to run a library? How are public libraries funded?

For specific reports on the costs of running the various types of libraries, see the ALA Library Fact Sheet 4 - Library Operating Expenditures: A Selected Annotated Bibliography. More importantly, there is a widespread belief that public libraries are funded mostly by the U.S. federal government. Overall, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the percentage of federal government funding for public libraries is less than 1 percent. State government funding comes in at ten percent. And eight percent comes from grants, monetary gifts and donations, and library fines and fees. But the remaining 81 percent, the bulk of public library funding, comes from the local tax dollars of the residents served. Increases in funding are usually requested via tax levies and referenda that appear on election ballots. With few exceptions, the recent closings of public libraries across the country over the last few years have occurred due to a lack or loss of funding. For greater detail, see the report from ALA's Office for Research and Statistics, Funding Issues in U.S. Public Libraries, Fiscal Years 2003-2006 (PDF). Stay informed about library funding concerns across the United States.