Did you know that in a typical week, over 18 million people enter academic libraries in the United States? That over 470,000 bibliographic instruction classes are presented to 8.3 million people annually? That all U.S. academic libraries hold over 1 billion volumes? That 221 academic libraries hold more than 1 million books apiece? That 26,500 FTE librarians are employed in the 3600+ academic libraries?(We know, it is a small number; in fact, librarians only account for 28% of all FTE staff working in academic libraries.) All these figures and more can be gleaned from the latest NCES report – Academic Libraries 2006: The First Look(released July 2008). The largest academic libraries have their own group, the Association of Research Libraries(ARL); you may peruse their statistics as well. For those who are not sated with these compilations, please consult: Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2005(released November 2007); and State Library Agencies: Fiscal Year 2006(released November 2007). On a more local level, statistics for NJ public libraries can be found here, while international library statistics are published by IFLA(International Federation of Library Associations). The country reports are extremely informative; the latest IFLA report(volume 7 for 2007) contains profiles on 116 countries.
