Public Library Revenue, Expenditures, and Funding Sources
- In 2018, per capita public library expenditures were $41.10, 32% higher than in 1995 (Indicator V-18a; all amounts are given in 2018 dollars).1 Growth in expenditures over this period occurred in two distinct phases (from 1995 to 2002 and again from 2005 to 2009) separated by a plateau. The 2009 zenith in per capita expenditures was followed by several years of decline and then stasis. A substantial uptick in 2016 was then followed by another in 2018, which brought expenditures up to 96% of their 2009 high.
- Per capita library expenditures on staff, which made up approximately two-thirds of all expenditures throughout the time period, were 36% greater in 2018 than in 1995. As with total expenditures, 2010 was the first year to bring a decline in library spending on staff. By 2016 per capita spending was trending upward again but was still down 4% from the 2009 peak.
- Expenditures on collections rose gradually from 1995 to 2001 but then declined slightly or held steady in most subsequent years. As a result, expenditures on collection materials were 4% lower in 2018 than in 1995. Other library expenditures increased by 48% from 1995 to 2018. (In comparing the percentage changes in spending for various purposes, it is important to keep in mind the marked difference in the size of the base amount, with the levels of collection and “other” expenditures in 1995 being considerably smaller than those for staff and total expenditures.)2
- Public libraries received the large majority of their revenue from local government (Indicator V-18b). The local share began increasing in 2002, and by 2018 local funds represented 86% of all library revenues, up from 78% in 1995. Over the 1995–2018 time period, the share of funding garnered from state government decreased from 12% to less than 7%. The share received from “other” sources—the federal government, donations, fees, and grants—shrank also, from approximately 10% to 7%. (During this same time period, the federal government was the source of a very small proportion, 1% or less, of library revenues. These values were too small to be tracked separately in the figure; for the federal percentage values, which declined by two-thirds over the 1995–2018 time period, see Supporting Table V-18b. Federal funds came mostly in the form of Library Services and Technology Act grant monies distributed by state library agencies.)
- Per capita public library expenditures varied widely from state to state (Indicator V-18c). The state with the highest per capita amount, New York, spent approximately $69 per capita in 2018, while the lowest, Mississippi, spent $16.42.
Endnotes
- 1The per capita values mentioned here are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas, as reported by libraries themselves. A library’s legal service area is the geographical area that by state or local statute a library is mandated to serve. “Unduplicated” refers to the fact that the population figures have been adjusted to compensate for overlapping service areas. To simply sum the populations of all service areas within a state would be to double count those people residing in areas served by more than one library.
- 2The “Other” expenditure category includes monies spent on binding, supplies, repair or replacement of existing furnishings and equipment, and costs of computer hardware and software used to support library operations or to link to external networks, including the Internet; also includes expenditures for contracts for services, such as costs of operating and maintaining physical facilities, and fees paid to consultants, auditors, architects, attorneys, and so on.
* Values presented are for the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Calculations were performed on all libraries treated by these jurisdictions as public libraries, not only those meeting all Federal-State Cooperative System criteria for public libraries, and are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas (see “About the Data” for details). Expenditure amounts were adjusted for inflation using the annual gross domestic product deflators produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Deflators were obtained from Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2021, “Section 10--Gross Domestic Product and Implicit Outlay Deflators,” Table 10.1 (Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 1940–2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BUDGET-2021-TAB/BUDGET-2021-TAB-11-1/context.
** Includes expenditures for binding, supplies, repair or replacement of existing furnishings and equipment, and costs of computer hardware and software used to support library operations or to link to external networks, including the Internet; also includes expenditures for service contracts, such as costs of operating and maintaining physical facilities, and fees paid to consultants, auditors, architects, attorneys, and so on.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries Survey (1995–2005); Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey (2006–2018). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
The per capita values included in this graph are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas, as reported by libraries themselves. A library’s legal service area is the geographical area that by state or local statute a library is mandated to serve. “Unduplicated” refers to the fact that the population figures have been adjusted to compensate for overlapping service areas. To simply sum the populations of all service areas within a state would be to double count those people residing in areas served by more than one library.
Under the Federal-State Cooperative System, a public library is an entity established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, is supported in whole or in part with public funds, and provides at least the following:
1. An organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;
2. Paid staff;
3. An established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; and
4. The facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule.
A library, in this instance, refers to the administrative entity, which could be a single-outlet library or a multibranch library system. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent year for which information was available at the time of publication, 9,045 libraries operating in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia met the criteria above. These entities provided services via 16,557 central and branch libraries, and 672 bookmobiles (M. Pelczar, L. M. Frehill, K. Williams, and E. Nielsen, Supplementary Tables: Public Libraries in the United States Fiscal Year 2017 [Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019], 1–2, https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/fy2017_pls_tables.pdf).
* Values presented are for the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Calculations were performed on all libraries treated by these jurisdictions as public libraries, not only those meeting all Federal-State Cooperative System criteria for public libraries (see “About the Data” for details).
** Includes monetary gifts and donations received in the current year, interest, library fines, fees for library services, and grants. For the share of libraries’ operating revenue coming from federal sources, see Supporting Table V-18b.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries Survey (1995–2005); Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey (2006–2018). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
Under the Federal-State Cooperative System, a public library is an entity established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, is supported in whole or in part with public funds, and provides at least the following:
1. An organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;
2. Paid staff;
3. An established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; and
4. The facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule.
A library, in this instance, refers to the administrative entity, which could be a single-outlet library or a multibranch library system. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent year for which information was available at the time of publication, 9,045 libraries operating in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia met the criteria above. These entities provided services via 16,557 central and branch libraries, and 672 bookmobiles (M. Pelczar, L. M. Frehill, K. Williams, and E. Nielsen, Supplementary Tables: Public Libraries in the United States Fiscal Year 2017 [Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019], 1–2, https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/fy2017_pls_tables.pdf).
V-18c: Per Capita Operating Expenditures of Public Libraries, by State (including the District of Columbia), Fiscal Year 2018*
* Calculations were performed on all libraries treated by these jurisdictions as public libraries, not only those meeting all Federal-State Cooperative System criteria for public libraries, and are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas (see “About the Data” for details).
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries Survey (1995–2005); and Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey (2006–2018). Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).
The per capita values included in this graph are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas, as reported by libraries themselves. A library’s legal service area is the geographical area that by state or local statute a library is mandated to serve. “Unduplicated” refers to the fact that the population figures have been adjusted to compensate for overlapping service areas. To simply sum the populations of all service areas within a state would be to double count those people residing in areas served by more than one library.
Under the Federal-State Cooperative System, a public library is an entity established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, is supported in whole or in part with public funds, and provides at least the following:
1. An organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;
2. Paid staff;
3. An established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; and
4. The facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule.
A library, in this instance, refers to the administrative entity, which could be a single-outlet library or a multibranch library system. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent year for which information was available at the time of publication, 9,045 libraries operating in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia met the criteria above. These entities provided services via 16,557 central and branch libraries, and 672 bookmobiles (M. Pelczar, L. M. Frehill, K. Williams, and E. Nielsen, Supplementary Tables: Public Libraries in the United States Fiscal Year 2017 [Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019], 1–2, https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/fy2017_pls_tables.pdf).
