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Every public library, with its system's numbers.
All 16,752 central and branch public libraries in the 50 states and D.C., with address, coordinates, county, locale, size and hours, plus the yearly figures for the 9,192 library systems they belong to: population served, visits, circulation, books, programs, computers, staff, income and spending.
- Rows
- 16,752
- Columns
- 33
- Formats
- CSV, JSON, XML
As of: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024, published June 2026. IMLS publishes each fiscal year's survey about two years later.
Preview
A few real rows
| Name | City | StateCode | SystemName | SystemBranches | SystemVisits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN BUILDING | NEW YORK | NY | NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, THE BRANCH LIBRARIES | 84 | 12325494 |
| QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY CENTRAL | JAMAICA | NY | QUEENS BOROUGH PUBLIC LIBRARY | 61 | 6509754 |
| BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY | BROOKLYN | NY | BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY | 53 | 5989987 |
| CENTRAL LIBRARY | LOS ANGELES | CA | LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY | 72 | 5747048 |
| COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY | COLUMBUS | OH | COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY | 22 | 5472220 |
| BROWARD COUNTY MAIN LIBRARY | FORT LAUDERDALE | FL | BROWARD COUNTY LIBRARIES DIVISION | 36 | 5375329 |
| SAN DIEGO CENTRAL LIBRARY | SAN DIEGO | CA | SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY | 35 | 5058242 |
| CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY | CHICAGO | IL | CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY | 80 | 4871365 |
Field guide
What's in each row
The library
IMLS library and system IDs, name, central library or branch, address, city, state, ZIP code, county, phone number and coordinates.
LibraryID SystemID Name OutletType Address City StateCode ZipCode County Phone Latitude Longitude
The building
Locale, square feet, public service hours a year, weeks open, bookmobiles based there, and whether it was temporarily closed.
Locale SquareFeet HoursPerYear WeeksOpen Bookmobiles IsTemporarilyClosed
The system
System name and legal basis, the population of its service area, and how many central libraries and branches it has.
SystemName SystemLegalBasis SystemPopulationServed SystemCentralLibraries SystemBranches
System use and money
For the whole system: visits, circulation, books, registered users, programs, public computers, paid staff in full-time equivalents, operating income and operating expenses.
SystemVisits SystemCirculation SystemBooks SystemRegisteredUsers SystemPrograms SystemPublicComputers SystemStaffFTE SystemOperatingIncome SystemOperatingExpenses
Good to know
Before you use it
- Every column that starts with System is for the whole library system, not the building, so each of Chicago Public Library's 80 branches shows the same system visits and spending. To add systems up, count each SystemID once.
- Most systems have a single library, and for them the System columns describe that library.
- Empty means IMLS has no figure: it was missing, didn't apply, or the library was temporarily closed. Spending and income are in dollars for the library's 2024 fiscal year.
- Locale is the Department of Education's urban-centric locale: city, suburb, town or rural, by size or distance. Bookmobiles and books-by-mail services aren't rows of their own; Bookmobiles counts those based at each library. Names and addresses are in capitals, as IMLS publishes them.
- In every format, dates are written as yyyy-MM-dd, and yes/no values as true or false. An empty value means nothing was recorded.
Source
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey
Public domain
Where it comes in handy
What you can build with it
- Library finders. Show the nearest library with its address and hours.
- Research. Compare library use and funding across states and communities.
- Advocacy. Put a library system's numbers next to its peers'.
- Maps. Plot libraries by locale or system.
Access
Try it free. Get all of it with a pass.
Free sample
- The libraries in Vermont
- A README with the field guide and source
Data Pass $69
- All 16,752 rows of U.S. public libraries
- One ZIP in CSV, JSON or XML, with a README
- Also every other collection and the whole dataset catalog, for 365 days
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