Welcome to the Library Statistics Program

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is now conducting the Academic Libraries Survey as part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The Academic Libraries component for IPEDS replaced the previous Academic Libraries Survey. Between 2000 and 2012, the Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) was conducted independently of IPEDS, which was collected from degree-granting postsecondary institutions every other year in even-numbered years. Since 2014 (there was not a survey in 2013), the ALS was reintegrated back into the IPEDS collection as the Academic Libraries (AL) component, which is mandatory and collected annually in the spring. Visit the Academic Libraries Resource page for more information on reporting changes. The most recent AL survey was conducted in 2014; those data were made available to the public in December 2015 and can be obtained through the IPEDS Use the Data portal.

AL data for 2012 and every year starting with 2014 can be obtained through the Library Statistics Program Data Files. Also, older Academic Libraries Survey data from 1996 – 2012 can be obtained through the Library Statistics Program Data Files and Compare Academic Libraries.

Past information about elementary/secondary public school library media centers is available on the Schools and Staffing Survey website.

The Public Libraries Survey and the State Library Agencies Survey have been done by Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) since October 2007, and IMLS now distributes information about those surveys going back to 1989.