The country, not the state. :)

15.4 volumes per person is an impressive number!

Hi, LJ!

I don't know why Nationmaster was unable to find the US stats. They're published online. To wit:

Collections
· Nationwide, public libraries had 767.1 million books and serial volumes in their collections, or 2.8 volumes per capita, in FY 2001 (table 8). By state, the number of volumes per capita ranged from 1.7 to 5.0.
· Public libraries nationwide had 34.3 million audio materials and 25.2 million video materials in their collections (table 8).
· Nationwide, public libraries provided 8.5 materials in electronic format per 1,000 population (e.g., CDROMs, magnetic tapes, and magnetic disks) (table 8). [emphasis mine]

Library Services
Children’s Services
· Nationwide, circulation of children’s materials was 653.9 million, or 37 percent of total circulation, in FY 2001 (table 5). Attendance at children’s programs was 51.8 million.

Internet Access and Electronic Services
· Nationwide, 96 percent of public libraries had access to the Internet (table 6). Ninety-one percent of all public libraries made the Internet available to patrons directly or through a staff intermediary, 4 percent of public libraries made the Internet available to patrons through a staff intermediary only, and 1 percent of public libraries made the Internet available only to library staff.
· Internet terminals available for public use in public libraries nationwide numbered 123,000, or 2.2 per 5,000 population (table 7). The average number of Internet terminals available for public use per stationary outlet was 7.5.
· Ninety-nine percent of the unduplicated population of legal service areas had access to the Internet through their local public library.
· Nationwide, 90 percent of public libraries provided access to electronic services (table 6).

Other Services
· Total nationwide circulation of public library materials was 1.8 billion, or 6.5 materials circulated per capita (table 4). By state, the highest circulation per capita was 13.8, and the lowest was 2.1.
· Nationwide, 19.5 million library materials were loaned by public libraries to other libraries (table 4).
· Nationwide, reference transactions in public libraries totaled 296.2 million, or 1.1 reference transactions per capita (table 4).
· Nationwide, library visits in public libraries totaled 1.2 billion, or 4.3 library visits per capita (table 4).

National Center for Education Statistics. US Dept. of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. "Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 2001." NCES doc.# 2003-399. Online: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003399.pdf. Accessed 16 September 2003

Table 8 on pages 52-53 breaks it down by state.

At 2.8 volumes per cap, the US would be in the top 10. My guess is, our government never submitted the data. What's even more telling for me is the number of electronic resources offered, and the internet access. I'd like to see comparable data on the other nations on the list.

Regards--
Mary Anne