Table 701.40.

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures of degree-granting postsecondary institution libraries: Selected years, 2001-02 through 2018-19

Collections, staff, and operating expenditures	2001-02	2011-12	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18				2018-19
						Total	Public	Private nonprofit	Private for-profit	Total	Public	Private nonprofit	Private for-profit
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Number of libraries	3,568	3,793	4,134	3,999	3,944	3,710	1,557	1,592	561	3,697	1,560	1,584	553
Percentage of institutions with libraries	85.0	80.6	90.2	91.7	91.4	91.8	95.2	95.7	75.6	92.8	96.0	95.4	79.3
Number of circulation transactions (in thousands)	189,248	154,409	917,510	778,357	772,169	686,262	420,232	212,597	53,433	701,282	439,772	203,166	58,343
Physical transactions	---	---	81,182	67,796	58,199	52,832	31,164	21,159	510	46,071	27,842	17,745	485
Electronic transactions	---	---	836,328	710,561	713,970	633,430	389,068	191,438	52,923	655,210	411,931	185,422	57,857
Number of circulation transactions per full-time-     equivalent (FTE) student	16	10	60	52	52	46	40	61	64	47	42	58	77
Enrollment (in thousands)
Total enrollment1	15,928	20,994	20,209	19,988	19,847	19,778	14,572	4,108	1,098	19,651	14,539	4,132	980
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment1	11,766	15,886	15,263	15,079	14,938	14,884	10,569	3,480	835	14,773	10,487	3,528	758
Collections (in thousands)
Total number of physical and electronic materials     (books, media, and databases)	---	---	2,128,233	1,985,142	2,208,941	2,218,419	1,227,156	870,199	121,065	2,567,494	1,383,882	956,253	227,360
Number of books	---	---	1,711,851	1,573,341	1,650,727	1,637,365	893,951	663,822	79,591	1,795,747	955,123	727,793	112,831
Physical books	---	---	1,036,223	824,767	799,192	752,950	449,018	301,209	2,723	731,603	434,440	294,568	2,595
Electronic books	10,318	252,599	675,629	748,575	851,536	884,414	444,933	362,613	76,868	1,064,144	520,683	433,225	110,236
Number of media (includes audiovisual materials)	---	---	411,822	410,274	557,267	579,814	332,745	205,932	41,137	770,230	428,087	227,923	114,220
Physical media	---	---	253,826	190,049	194,763	179,406	121,967	57,106	333	167,133	114,351	52,516	267
Electronic media	---	---	157,996	220,225	362,505	400,409	210,778	148,826	40,804	603,097	313,737	175,407	113,953
Number of databases (electronic only)	---	---	4,560	1,527	947	1,240	460	444	336	1,517	672	537	309
Number of volumes at end of year	954,030	1,099,951	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes added during year	24,574	27,605	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of serial subscriptions at end of year2	9,855	---	---	222,010	289,411	291,825	102,169	92,899	96,757	395,616	115,064	152,271	128,281
Physical serial subscription	---	---	---	23,578	21,850	23,552	14,600	8,853	100	21,080	13,174	7,807	99
E-serial subscription	---	---	---	198,432	267,561	268,273	87,569	84,046	96,657	374,536	101,890	144,463	128,182
Microform units at end of year	1,143,678	1,044,521	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of volumes per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	81	69	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Number of books per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student	---	---	112	104	111	110	85	191	95	122	91	206	149
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) library staff
Total staff in regular positions3	69,526	65,242	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Librarians and professional staff	32,053	34,423	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other paid staff	37,473	30,819	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Contributed services	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Student assistants	25,305	20,509	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
FTE student enrollment per FTE staff member	169	243	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Library operating expenditures4
Total operating expenditures (in thousands of current     dollars)	$5,370,217	$6,981,276	$7,957,153	$8,085,556	$8,243,595	$8,317,493	$4,900,576	$3,343,800	$73,117	$8,387,543	$4,932,204	$3,379,783	$75,556
Salaries and wages5	2,753,404	3,443,831	3,422,050	3,455,940	3,504,446	3,529,745	2,190,530	1,309,489	29,727	3,551,582	2,203,720	1,318,388	29,474
Fringe benefits	---	---	745,195	759,363	784,747	800,253	498,640	298,746	2,867	815,998	517,718	295,397	2,883
Computer hardware/software	155,791	143,660	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia	92,242	123,650	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Information resources	1,944,490	2,763,202	3,016,495	3,083,854	3,126,900	3,160,687	1,788,262	1,340,372	32,053	3,196,410	1,800,981	1,361,746	33,682
Books, serial backfiles, and other materials	---	---	604,100	614,389	604,279	578,131	285,239	289,544	3,348	555,557	278,160	274,646	2,751
Books and serial backfiles—paper	563,007	503,851	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Books and serial backfiles—electronic	44,792	180,570	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Audiovisual materials	37,041	37,022	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Ongoing commitments to subscriptions	---	---	2,217,573	2,287,252	2,353,844	2,402,873	1,404,694	971,335	26,844	2,461,346	1,424,365	1,009,238	27,742
Current serials—paper	926,105	487,265	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Current serials—electronic	297,657	1,436,671	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Preservation, other materials/services expenditures	---	---	162,484	182,213	168,777	179,684	98,329	79,493	1,862	179,507	98,456	77,861	3,190
Document delivery/interlibrary loan	22,913	32,490	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other collection expenditures	52,976	85,334	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Other library operating expenditures	424,290	506,934	773,413	786,399	827,502	826,808	423,145	395,194	8,470	823,553	409,784	404,252	9,516
Operating expenditures per full-time-equivalent     (FTE) student
In current dollars	456	439	521	536	552	559	464	961	88	568	470	958	100
In constant 2019-20 dollars6	659	497	567	579	585	579	481	996	91	577	478	973	101
Information resource expenditures per FTE student
In current dollars	165	174	198	205	209	212	169	385	38	216	172	386	44
In constant 2019-20 dollars6	239	197	215	221	222	220	175	399	40	220	174	392	45
Operating expenditures (percentage distribution)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Salaries and wages5	51.3	49.3	43.0	42.7	42.5	42.4	44.7	39.2	40.7	42.3	44.7	39.0	39.0
Fringe benefits	---	---	9.4	9.4	9.5	9.6	10.2	8.9	3.9	9.7	10.5	8.7	3.8
Information resources7	36.2	39.6	37.9	38.1	37.9	38.0	36.5	40.1	43.8	38.1	36.5	40.3	44.6
Other8	12.5	11.1	9.7	9.7	10.0	9.9	8.6	11.8	11.6	9.8	8.3	12.0	12.6

---Not available.

1 Fall enrollment for the academic year specified.

2 Includes electronic serials. If a single title comes in both paper and electronic formats, it counts as two subscriptions.

3 Excludes student assistants.

4 Excludes capital outlay. Expenditure data are reported only by degree-granting institutions with total expenditures over $100,000.

5 Includes student hourly wages.

6 Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis.

7 Expenditures on information resources include expenditures on preservation.

8 Includes computer hardware/software, bibliographic utilities/networks/consortia, and "other library operating expenditures" not individually listed.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Degree-granting institutions grant associate's or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Academic Libraries Survey (ALS), 2000 through 2012; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2015 through Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment component; and IPEDS Spring 2015 through Spring 2019, Academic Libraries component. (This table was prepared June 2021.)