ALA Library Fact Sheet 22

This fact sheet lists the top 100 largest libraries in the United States by volumes held.

For lists of the largest public libraries only, see ALA Library Fact Sheet 13 - The Nation's Largest Public Libraries: Top 25 Rankings, which lists the top 25 public libraries in the United States by population served, by library collection, by circulation, and by library visits.

See below for definitions of "volume" for both public libraries and academic (college and university) libraries.





Number Source Library Name Volumes Held 1 L Library of Congress 34,528,818 2 P+A Boston Public Library (Branches + Research Collections) 19,090,261 3 A Harvard University 16,832,952 4 P+A New York Public Library (Branches + Research Collections) 16,342,365 5 A University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign 13,158,748 6 A Yale University 12,787,962 7 A University of California - Berkeley 11,545,418 8 A Columbia University 11,189,036 9 A University of Michigan 10,778,736 10 A University of Texas - Austin 9,990,941 11 A University of Chicago 9,837,021 12 A University of California - Los Angeles 9,151,964 13 P Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County 8,819,759 14 A Indiana University 8,677,974 15 S Stanford University 8,500,000 16 A University of Wisconsin - Madison 8,421,198 17 A Cornell University 8,173,778 18 A Princeton University 7,226,744 19 A University of Washington 7,203,156 20 A University of Minnesota 7,111,311 21 P Detroit Public Library 7,070,433 22 A University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 7,012,787 23 P County of Los Angeles Public Library 6,795,552 24 P Queens Borough Public Library 6,544,609 25 P Los Angeles Public Library 6,459,552 26 A University of Pennsylvania 6,438,305 27 A Duke University 6,174,814 28 A Ohio State University 6,161,657 29 A University of Pittsburgh 6,148,036 30 A University of Arizona 5,998,148 31 P Chicago Public Library 5,790,289 32 A University of Oklahoma 5,662,666 33 A Michigan State University 5,609,761 34 A University of Virginia 5,607,915 35 P San Diego Public Library 5,535,415 36 A University of Iowa 5,490,825 37 A Pennsylvania State University 5,441,121 38 A New York University 5,382,424 39 A Northwestern University 5,047,970 40 P Free Library Of Philadelphia 5,043,943 41 P Dallas Public Library 4,972,494 42 P Hennepin County Library 4,961,514 43 A University of Georgia 4,810,192 44 A Rutgers University 4,722,407 45 A University of Colorado 4,681,261 46 A Texas A&M University 4,577,498 47 A Arizona State University 4,497,114 48 A University of Florida 4,414,450 49 A University of Cincinnati 4,379,445 50 A North Carolina State University 4,332,899 51 A Washington University - St. Louis 4,323,958 52 A University of Kansas 4,318,644 53 A Brigham Young University 4,292,056 54 P Cleveland Public Library 4,273,202 55 P Brooklyn Public Library 4,233,304 56 A Brown University 4,187,257 57 A University of Southern California 4,180,515 58 A University of California - Davis 4,175,047 59 A Tulane University 4,155,793 60 A Louisiana State University 4,128,626 61 A University of Connecticut 4,096,396 62 P King County Library System 4,044,907 63 A State University of New York - Buffalo 4,029,865 64 A Temple University 3,990,379 65 A University of South Carolina 3,963,958 66 A University of Maryland 3,930,013 67 A University of Kentucky 3,915,579 68 A University of California - San Diego 3,830,802 69 A University of Rochester 3,826,916 70 P Hawaii State Public Library System 3,776,405 71 A Johns Hopkins University 3,701,215 72 A University of Massachusetts - Amherst 3,697,796 73 P Miami-Dade Public Library System 3,674,651 74 A University of Notre Dame 3,673,092 75 A Wayne State University 3,655,805 76 A Emory University 3,619,813 77 A University of Hawaii 3,602,058 78 A University of Missouri - Columbia 3,561,607 79 A University of Alabama 3,533,794 80 A Vanderbilt University 3,531,208 81 A University of Nebraska - Lincoln 3,500,601 82 P Broward County Libraries Division 3,477,312 83 A Auburn University 3,472,547 84 A Oklahoma State University 3,468,428 85 A Georgetown University 3,461,170 86 A University of Utah 3,441,965 87 A University of New Mexico 3,430,200 88 P Mid-Continent Public Library 3,419,516 89 P Allen County Public Library 3,412,830 90 P Saint Louis Public Library 3,352,775 91 A University of Miami 3,348,622 92 A University of Tennessee - Knoxville 3,330,181 93 A Syracuse University 3,291,384 94 P Cuyahoga County Public Library 3,252,456 95 A University of California - Irvine 3,223,679 96 P Buffalo & Erie County Public Library 3,211,709 97 A Southern Illinois University - Carbondale 3,203,455 98 A MIT/Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3,119,157 99 A University of California - Riverside 3,066,630 100 P Houston Public Library 3,061,773

Sources

L=Library of Congress - Annual Report, FY 2011 - Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress: For the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2011. Member of Association of Research Libraries (ARL http://www.arl.org).

A= ARL Statistics 2009-10. Association of Research Libraries (ARL).

P= PLAmetrics (FY 2011). Public Library Association (PLA, a division of the American Library Association).

P+A= PLAmetrics (FY 2011) plus ARL Statistics 2009-10: Both the Boston Public Library and the New York Public Library appear on both reports, reporting their public library collection number in the former and their research library collection number in the latter. For accuracy in counting these institution's true holdings, these collection numbers have been added together.

S= Stanford Facts: Libraries & Computing. Former member of ARL.

Users should be aware that public library and academic library collections are dissimilar.

The ARL academic library study takes its definition of volume from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO): A single physical unit of any printed, typewritten, handwritten, mimeographed, or processed work, distinguished from other units by a separate binding, encasement, portfolio, or other clear distinction, which has been cataloged, classified, and made ready for use, and which is typically the unit used to charge circulation transactions. Either a serial volume is bound, or it comprises the serial issues that would be bound together if the library bound all serials. ARL has been modifying the interpretation of the standard definitions to address questions posed by library staff at various member institutions that complete the survey and with feedback from the ARL Statistics and Assessment Committee (PDF; page 98). Include duplicates and bound volumes of periodicals. For purposes of this questionnaire, unclassified bound serials arranged in alphabetical order are considered classified. Exclude microforms, maps, nonprint materials, and uncataloged items. Include government document volumes that are accessible through the library’s catalogs regardless of whether they are separately shelved. Include e-book units, as long as these e-books are owned or leased and have been cataloged by your library. Include electronic books purchased through vendors such as NetLibrary® or Books 24x7, and e-books that come as part of aggregate services. Include individual titles of e-book sets that are treated as individual reference sources. Include locally digitized electronic books and electronic theses and dissertations. Include volumes purchased collectively where the cost is shared at the time of purchase.

The PLAmetrics public library report defines "holdings" on its worksheet (PDF): For the purpose of this data service, holdings will be defined as the number of cataloged items (number of items, not number of titles). Include print materials (including periodicals), electronic books, audio materials, and video materials acquired as part of the collection and cataloged, whether purchased, leased, licensed, or donated as gifts.

NOTE: Previous versions of this fact sheet can be accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine using the original URL <http://www.ala.org/library/fact22.html>.

Last updated: October 2012

For more information on this or other fact sheets, including copies of previous versions, contact the ALA Library Reference Desk by telephone: 800-545-2433, extension 2153; fax: 312-280-3255; e-mail: library@ala.org; or regular mail: ALA Library, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2795.