Data Archive Introduction | Background and Introduction to the Data | Data | Documentation | Publications about public libraries | Reports
The U.S. government through various agencies been involved in the compilation of library data since before The Office of Education published the legendary 1876 publication: Public Libraries in the United States of America, Part 1 [common title: 1876 Report.] IMLS—and NCES before it—continue an old tradition..
The publications here were collected from a number of sources. Most came from the NCES Website over time. It is a curiosity of working with library data that publications with data and reports about libraries derived from those data tend to disappear—in the old days to musty library shelves but these days, often, the memory hole. One might suppose that librarians who house, organize, and archive the world’s publications might treat their own data similarly but that is not the way it is. Moreover, government agencies often do not archive data for very long. As a former Webmaster at a federal agency, there was also the worry about having obsolete information which might mislead someone. In any case, this Archive has copies of digital publications that in many cases took effort to locate and also the cooperation of many people.
When this work began, public library data for 1987-1991 were no longer on the NCES site and, as indicated, came from other sources, largely from Kim Miller then at the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) who had collected almost everything. At the time NCLIS was responsible for working with NCES and providing a library perspective to the effort as a part of its policy role. That is why those diskettes were there.
Similarly, a number the older data publications such as documentation and reports had gone missing and ferreting them out took some time and effort. Early NCES publications that had been scanned—mostly by the good folks at NCES—and were sent to me are also included here.
As mentioned, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has taken over managing the collection of the public library data and state library data. There is a page for IMLS’s Public Library Survey effort and one for the State Library Administrative Agency survey (SLAA) which will have current information on this series. Publications about this latter type are not currently included in this Archive. Those data presented a daunting set of problems that frustrated attempts to recompile them.
Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research ICPSR, a part of the Institute for Social Research, is located on the University of Michigan Campus. ICPSR maintains an archive of social science data. A number of files of library data in the PLDF3 file came from ICPSR, which processed them on behalf of NCES. When I was looking for the early years of the FSCS data, these were available on the ICSPR site and I collected them. I also discovered other data on other types of libraries, particularly historical academic data files and these data are available here, also. A spreadsheet lists all the files from ICPSR.
Type of file | Year | File type | File name | File size | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Data | FY 2018 | zipped CSV | pls_fy2018_data_files_csv.zip | 3MB | Contains public libraries survey (pls_fy18i_ae_pud18i.csv), state summary data (pls_fy18_state_pud18i.csv), the library outlet (branch) file (pls_fy18_outlet_pud18i.csv), and README FY18 PLS PUD.txt |
Data | FY 2018 | zipped SAS | pls_fy2018_data_files_sas.zip | 4MB | Contains the public library survey data files in SAS format plus related SAS formatting files. |
Data | FY 2018 | zipped SPSS | pls_fy2018_data_files_spss.zip | 5MB | Contains the public libraries survey data files in SPSS format. |
Data | FY 2017 | zipped CSV | pls_fy2017_data_files_csv.zip | 5MB | Contains public libraries survey (PLS_FY17_AE_pud17i.csv), state summary data (PLS_FY17_State_pud17i.csv), the library outlet (branch) file (PLS_FY17_Outlet_pud17i.csv), and README FY17 PLS PUD.txt |
Data | FY 2017 | zipped SAS | pls_fy2017_data_files_sas.zip | 16MB | Contains data files in SAS format plus related SAS formatting files. |
Data | FY 2017 | zipped SPSS | pls_fy2017_data_files_spss.zip | 19MB | Contains the public libraries survey data files in SPSS format. |
Data | FY 2016 | zipped CSV | pls_fy2016_data_files_csv.zip | 11MB | Contains public libraries survey (PLS_FY2016_AE_pupld16a), state summary data (PLS_FY2016_State_pusum16a), the library outlet (branch) file (PLS_FY2016_Outlet_puout16a, and README FY2016 PLS PUD.txt |
Data | FY 2016 | zipped SAS | pls_fy2016_data_files_sas.zip | 16MB | Contains data files in SAS format plus related SAS formatting files. |
Data | FY 2016 | zipped SPSS | pls_fy2016_data_files_spss.zip | 19MB | Contains the public libraries survey data files in SPSS format. |
Data | FY 2015 | zipped CSV | pls_fy2015_data_files_csv.zip | 2.8MB | Contains public libraries survey (PLS_FY2015_AE_pupld15a), state summary data (PLS_FY2015_State_pusum15a), the library outlet (branch) file (PLS_FY2015_Outlet_puout15a, and README FY2015 PLS PUD.txt. |
Data | FY 2015 | zipped SAS | pls_fy2015_data_files_sas.zip | 4.0MB | Contains data files in SAS format plus related SAS formatting files. |
Data | FY 2015 | zipped SPSS | pls_fy2015_data_files_spss.zip | 4.3MB | Contains the public libraries survey data files in SPSS format. |
Data | FY 2014 | zipped CSV | pls_fy2014_data_files_csv.zip | 2.9MB | Contains public libraries survey (PLS_FY2014_AE_pupld14a), state summary data (PLS_FY2014_State_pusum14a), and the library outlet (branch) file (PLS_FY2014_Outlet_puout14a). |
Data | FY 2014 | zipped SAS | pls_fy2014_data_files_sas.zip | 3.7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped ASCII | pupld13a_ascii.zip | 3.5MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld13a), state summary data (pusum13a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout13a). |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped CSV | pupld13a_csv.zip | 3.2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped SAS | pupld13a_sas.zip | 3.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped XLS | pupld13a_xls.zip | 9.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped GeoJSON | pupld13a_geojson.zip | 5.1MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped KML | pupld13a_kml.zip | 6.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 2013 | zipped ESRI shapefile | pupld13a_shp.zip | 6.7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2012 | zipped ASCII | pupld12a_ascii.zip | 3.3MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld12a), state summary data (pusum12a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout12a). |
Data | FY 2012 | zipped CSV | pupld12a_csv.zip | 3.1MB | “ |
Data | FY 2012 | zipped SAS | pupld12a_sas.zip | 3.7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2012 | zipped XLS | pupld12a_xls.zip | 9.3MB | “ |
Data | FY 2011 | zipped CSV | pupld11a_csv.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2011 | zipped SAS | pupld11a_sas.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2011 | zipped XLS | pupld11a_xls.zip | 9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2010 | zipped ASCII | pls2010a_ASCII.zip | 3.2MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld10a), state summary data (pusum10a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout10a). Filename extensions vary. |
Data | FY 2010 | zipped CSV | pupld10a_csv.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2010 | zipped SAS | pupld10a_sas.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2010 | zipped XLS | pupld10a_xls.zip | 9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2009 | zipped ASCII | pupld09a_ascii.zip | 3.2MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld09a), state summary data (pusum09a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout09a). Filename extensions vary. |
Data | FY 2009 | zipped CSV | pupld09a_csv.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2009 | zipped SAS | pupld09a_sas.zip | 3.6MB | “ |
Data | FY 2009 | zipped XLS | pupld09a_xls.zip | 9.6MB | “ |
Data | FY 2008 | zipped ASCII | pls2008a_ASCII.zip | 3.2MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld08a), state summary data (pusum08a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout08a). Filename extensions vary. Datasets are the versions with corrected data for Kansas. See IMLS’s note on the matter. |
Data | FY 2008 | zipped CSV | pupld08a_csv.zip | 2.9MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld08a), state summary data (pusum08a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout08a). |
Data | FY 2008 | zipped SAS | pupld08a_sas.zip | 3.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2008 | zipped XLS | pupld08a_xls.zip | 8.8MB | “ |
Data | FY 2007 | zipped ASCII | pls2007a_ASCII.zip | 3.0MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld07a), state summary data (pusum07a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout07a). Datasets are the versions with corrected data for Ohio. See: USER NOTE PUBLIC LIBRARIES SURVEY REPORT For Fiscal Year 2007 |
Data | FY 2007 | zipped CSV | pupld07a_csv.zip | 2.8MB | “ |
Data | FY 2007 | zipped SAS | pupld07a_sas.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2007 | zipped XLS | pupld07a_xls.zip | 8.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 2006 | zipped ASCII | pls2006a_ASCII.zip | 2,485 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld06a), state summary data (pusum06a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout06a). Filename extensions vary. |
Data | FY 2006 | zipped CSV | pupld06a_csv.zip | 2.2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2006 | zipped SAS | pupld06a_sas.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2006 | zipped XLS | pupld06a_xls.zip | 7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2005 | zipped ASCII | pls2005a_ASCII.zip | 2,451 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld05a), state summary data (pusum05a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout05a). Filename extensions vary. |
Data | FY 2005 | zipped CSV | pupld05a_csv.zip | 2.2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2005 | zipped SAS | pupld05a_sas.zip | 2.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2005 | zipped XLS | pupld05a_xls.zip | 6.8MB | “ |
Data | FY 2004 | zipped ASCII | pls2004a_ASCII.zip | 2,406 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf04a), state summary data (pusum04a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout04a). Filename extensions vary. |
Data | FY 2004 | zipped Access | pls2004a_Access.zip | 2,475 KB | “ |
Data | FY 2004 | zipped CSV | pupld04a_csv.zip | 2.2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2004 | zipped SAS | pupld04b_sas.zip | 2.7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2004 | zipped XLS | pupld04a_xls.zip | 6.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 2003 | zipped ASCII | pls2003a_ASCII.zip | 2,279 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf03a), state summary data (pusum03a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout03a). |
Data | FY 2003 | zipped Access | pls2003a_Access.zip | 2,397 KB | “ |
Data | FY 2003 | zipped CSV | pupld03a_csv.zip | 2.1MB | “ |
Data | FY 2003 | zipped SAS | pupld03a_sas.zip | 2.7MB | “ |
Data | FY 2003 | zipped XLS | pupld03a_xls.zip | 6.1MB | “ |
Data | FY 2002 | zipped ASCII | pls2002b_ASCII.zip | 2,192 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld02b), state summary data (pusum02a), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout02a). (sic) |
Data | FY 2002 | zipped Access | pls2002b_Access.zip | 2,453 KB | “ |
Data | FY 2002 | zipped CSV | pupld02b_csv.zip | 2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2002 | zipped SAS | pupld02b_sas.zip | 2.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 2002 | zipped XLS | pupld02b_xls.zip | 6.1MB | “ |
Data | FY 2001 | zipped ASCII | pls2001b_ASCII.zip | 2MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupld01b), state summary data (pusum01), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout01). |
Data | FY 2001 | zipped Access | pls2001b_Access.zip | 2MB | “ |
Data | FY 2001 | zipped CSV | pupld01b_csv.zip | 1.9MB | “ |
Data | FY 2001 | zipped SAS | pupld01a_sas.zip | 2.6MB | “ |
Data | FY 2001 | zipped XLS | pupld01b_xls.zip | 5.3MB | “ |
Data | FY 2000 | zipped ASCII | pls2000_ASCII.zip | 2,117 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf00), state summary data (pusum00), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout00). |
Data | FY 2000 | zipped Access | pls2000_Access.zip | 2.4MB | “ |
Data | FY 2000 | zipped CSV | pupldF00_csv.zip | 1.8MB | “ |
Data | FY 2000 | zipped SAS | pupld00a_sas.zip | 2.6MB | “ |
Data | FY 2000 | zipped XLS | pupldF00_xls.zip | 6MB | “ |
Codebook | FY 2000 | zipped | pls2000.zip | 4.1M | Contains the complete FY 2000 data and documentation with executables. |
Data | FY 1999 | zipped ASCII | pls1999_ASCII.zip | 2.2MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf99), state summary data (pusum99), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout99). |
Data | FY 1999 | zipped Access | pls1999_Access.zip | 2.3MB | “ |
Data | FY 1999 | zipped csv | pupldf99_csv.zip | 1.8MB | “ |
Data | FY 1999 | zipped SAS | pupld99a_sas.zip | 2.5 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1999 | zipped xls | pupldf99_xls.zip | 6.5MB | “ |
Data | FY 1998 | zipped ASCII | pls1998_ASCII.zip | 2,052 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf98), state summary data (pusum98), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout98). |
Data | FY 1998 | zipped Access | pls1998_Access.zip | 2.4 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1998 | zipped csv | pupldf98_csv.zip | 1.8 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1998 | zipped SAS | pupld98a_sas.zip | 2.3 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1998 | zipped xls | pupldf98_xls.zip | 5.2 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1997 | zipped ASCII | pls1997_ASCII.zip | 2 MB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf97), state summary data (pusum97), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout97). |
Data | FY 1997 | zipped Access | pls1997_Access.zip | 2.2 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1997 | zipped csv | pupld97a_csv.zip | 1.8 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1997 | zipped SAS | pupld97a_sas.zip | 2.3 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1997 | zipped xls | pupld97a_xls.zip | 6 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1996 | zipped ASCII | pls1996_ASCII.zip | 1,940 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf96), state summary data (pusum96), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout96). |
Data | FY 1996 | zipped Access | pls1996_Access.zip | 2 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1996 | zipped csv | pupld96a_csv.zip | 1.7 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1996 | zipped SAS | pupld96a_sas.zip | 2.3 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1996 | zipped xls | pupld96a_xls.zip | 5.7 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1995 | zipped ASCII | pls1995_ASCII.zip | 1,904 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf95), state summary data (pusum95), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout95). |
Data | FY 1995 | zipped Access | pls1995_Access.zip | 2.2 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1995 | zipped csv | pupld95a_csv.zip | 1.7 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1995 | zipped SAS | pupld95a_sas.zip | 2.2 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1995 | zipped xls | pupld9a5_xls.zip | 5.5 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1994 | zipped ASCII | pls1994_ASCII.zip | 1,855 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf94), state summary data (pusum94), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout94). |
Data | FY 1994 | zipped Access | pls1994_Access.zip | 2,045 KB | “ |
Data | FY 1994 | zipped csv | pupld94a_csv.zip | 1.7 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1994 | zipped SAS | pupld94a_sas.zip | 2.1 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1994 | zipped xls | pupld94a_xls.zip | 5.5 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1993 | zipped ASCII | pls1993_ASCII.zip | 1,853 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf93), state summary data (pusum93), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout93). |
Data | FY 1993 | zipped Access | pls1993_Access.zip | 2,137 KB | “ |
Data | FY 1993 | zipped csv | pupld93a_csv.zip | 1.7 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1993 | zipped SAS | pupld93a_sas.zip | 2.1 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1993 | zipped xls | pupld93a_xls.zip | 5.5 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1992 | zipped ASCII | pls1992_ASCII.zip | 1,837 KB | Contains public libraries survey (pupldf92), state summary data (pusum92), and the library outlet (branch) file (puout92). |
Data | FY 1992 | zipped Access | pls1992_Access.zip | 2.1 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1992 | zipped csv | pupld92a_csv.zip | 1.6 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1992 | zipped SAS | pupld92a_sas.zip | 2.1 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1992 | zipped xls | pupld92a_xls.zip | 5.4 MB | “ |
Data | FY 1991 | ASCII | pls1991universe.txt contains the data file pls1991summary.txt has state summary data |
3,827 KB 25 KB |
The original file was PUBLIB91.EXE, a self-extracting file. It is located in the PublicLibs\Data directory. It will execute on Windows machines. The various files this program creates are filed where they belong, that is, data are with data and documentation with documentation. |
Data | FY 1990 | ASCII | pls1990universe.txt contains the data file pls1990summary.txt has state summary data |
4,165 KB 25 KB |
The original diskette contained PUBLIB90.EXE, a self-extracting file. It is located in the PublicLibs\Data directory. It will execute on Windows machines but will only extract PUBLIB90.TXT. PUBLIB90.TXT was renamed pls1990universe.txt for this compilation. The diskette also contained CEFSUMM.TXT which was renamed pls1990summary.txt for this compilation. |
Data | FY 1989 | ASCII | pls1989universe.txt pls1989summary.txt has state summary data. da2212.txt is the later edition. |
4,318 KB 25 KB |
This copy comes from ICPSR 9596, September 1991. It was also published as ICPSR 2212, March 2002. 9596 was used in PLDF3. By inspection, da2212.txt and pls1989universe.txt (originally da9596i.gz) appear to be the same. The summary file appears not to be available with the later version. |
Data | FY 1988 | ASCII | pls1988universe.txt | 3,816 KB | 7,910 library records, 45 summary records ICPSR 2211 |
Data | FY 1987 | ASCII | pls1987universe.txt | 1,839 KB | Summary data for each of the 19 reporting states is found as the first observation for that state. ICPSR 2210, March 2002 |
LIBGIS Data | |||||
Data | 1981 | ASCII | da2279.txt | 1,455 KB | Library General Information Survey (LIBGIS) from ICPSR Public Library Universe, 1981 A directory of “main” public libraries. 8,611 cases ICPSR 2279, March 2002 According to the ICPSR citation to the NCES publication, the original was published in 1981. |
Data | FY 1977-1978 | ASCII | da2209.txt | 1,558 KB | Library General Information Survey (LIBGIS) III from ICPSR Public Libraries, FY 1977-1978 ICPSR 2209, May 2002 According to the ICPSR citation to the NCES publication, the original was published in 1978. |
Data | 1977 | ASCII | da2207.txt | 1,453 KB | Library General Information Survey (LIBGIS) III Public Library Universe, 1977 ICPSR 2207, March 2002 According to the ICPSR citation to the NCES publication, the original was published in 1977. |
Data | FY 1974 | ASCII | da2208.txt | 1,143 KB | Library General Information Survey (LIBGIS) I from ICPSR Public Libraries, FY 1974 1,460 cases. Brief data on public libraries, branches, and some state libraries. ICPSR 2208, March 2002 According to the ICPSR citation to the NCES publication, the original was published in 1974. |
Data | 1973 | ASCII | da2206.txt | 1,521 KB | Library General Information Survey (LIBGIS) I from ICPSR Public Library Universe, 1973 8,996 cases. Stratified random sample. ICPSR 2206, March 2002 According to the ICPSR citation to the NCES publication, the original was published in 1973. |