LibGuides: Number of Libraries in the United States: Home

ALA Library Fact Sheet 1

There are an estimated 116,867 libraries of all kinds in the United States today.

No single annual survey provides statistics on all types of libraries.

**Number of Libraries in the United States**
Public Libraries (administrative units)			9,057
	Central Buildings*	8,884
	Branch Buildings	7,684
	Total Buildings	16,568
Academic Libraries			3,094
	Less than four-year	856
	Four-year and above	2,238
School Libraries			98,460
	Public Schools	81,200
	Private Schools	17,100
	BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)	160
Special Libraries**			5,150
Armed Forces Libraries			239
Government Libraries			867
Total			116,867

* The number of central buildings is different from the number of public libraries because some public library systems have no central building and some have more than one. Footnote 4 in Table 3 of Public Libraries in the United States Survey: Fiscal Year 2016 (April 2018) explains: " Of the 9,057 public libraries in the 50 States and DC, 7,340 were single-outlet libraries and 1,717 were multiple-outlet libraries. Single-outlet libraries are a central library, bookmobile, or books-by-mail-only outlet. Multiple-outlet libraries have two or more direct service outlets, including some combination of one central library, branch(es), bookmobile(s), and/or books-by-mail-only outlets."

** Special libraries include Corporate, Medical, Law, Religious, etc.

Figures for public libraries come from the supplementary tables of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Libraries in the United States Survey: Fiscal Year 2016 (April 2018)

Figures for academic libraries come from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Academic Library Survey, 2014-2015

Figures for school libraries come from various surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES):

The number of school libraries in public schools comes from Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Centers in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (August 2013)
The number of school libraries in BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) schools comes from Characteristics of Public and Bureau of Indian Education Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Centers in the United States: Results from the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (June 2009)
The number of school libraries in private schools comes from "Table 421. Selected statistics on school libraries/media centers, by control and level of school: 1999-2000 and 2003-04" from the 2008 Digest of Education Statistics (more recent library media center data for private schools have not been collected because of NCES budget constraints)

Figures for special libraries, armed forces libraries, and government libraries come from the American Library Directory 2017-2018.

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Links to Sources for Statistics

Public Libraries Survey 2016 (Administrative Entity Visualization)
Survey conducted by the Institute of Museum and Library Services that provides statistics on public libraries in the United States.
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences.
Academic Libraries: 2012 First Look
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report summarizing statistics on academic libraries (February 2014)
Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Centers in the United States: Results From the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey
Report compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics with statistical information on School Librare Media Centers in the United States (August 2013)
Characteristics of Public and Bureau of Indian Education Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Centers in the United States: Results from the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey
Report from the National Center for Education Statistics with statistical information on school library media centers in schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (June 2009)
Selected statistics on school libraries/media centers, by control and level of school: 1999–2000 and 2003–04
Table 421 of the Digest of Education Statistics, compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, contains statistics on the number of school library media centers in private schools. More recent library media center data for private schools have not been collected because of NCES budget constraints.
American Library Directory
A directory of libraries in the United States and Canada
NCES Academic Libraries Information Center
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Academic Libraries Survey data access page

Library Statistics from Other Countries

IFLA Library Map of the World
IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Library Map of the World is a representative source of basic library statistics and a robust tool providing country-level data and a worldwide comparison of different library performance metrics by region.