The following facts come from Quotable Facts About America's Libraries published by the American Library Association.
- Academic libraries held approximately 252.6 million e-books and public libraries held more than 87.2 million in 2012. The "2013 Digital Inclusion Study" reported 89% of libraries provide access to ebooks.
- Academic librarians provide information services for almost 38 million people each year – reaching almost six million more than attend men's college basketball games.
- College libraries receive fewer than three cents of every dollar spent on higher education.
- Reference librarians in the nation’s public and academic libraries answer nearly 6.6 million questions weekly. Standing single file, the line of questioners would span from Miami, Florida to Juneau, Alaska.
- Americans go to school, public and academic libraries more than three times as frequently as they go to the movies.
- There were 96.5 million attendees at public library programs in 2013, more than all Major League Baseball and NBA games combined.
- In 2013, there were 1.5 billion in-person visits to public libraries across the U.S., the equivalent of more than 4 million visits each day. That’s 2,854 per minute.
- There are more public libraries than Starbucks in the U.S. – a total of 17,566 including branches. Nearly 100% of public libraries provide Wi-Fi and have no-fee access to computers.
