2022 Academic Library Trends and Statistics data now available

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces that results from the 2022 Academic Library Trends and Statistics survey are now available. This is the largest survey of academic libraries in the country, providing one of the most comprehensive portraits of the impact of academic libraries across the United States.

The 2022 survey includes data about academic libraries of all types (community college, college, and university libraries) in five major categories: staffing, expenditures, collections, library services, and the 2022 trends questions of post-COVID library services and workplace trends.

ACRL invited 3,397 academic libraries (primarily in the US) to participate in the 2022 survey. In total, 1,509 institutions completed the survey, a response rate of 44.4%.

Key findings include:

• Of the libraries that have sought to hire new employees in the past year, 56% report that the candidate pool is smaller than pre-Covid levels, while only 30% say it is the same size or larger. 
• 60.7% of library employees have the option to work remotely in some capacity, whether it be full-time, hybrid, a compressed work week or flexible hours and locations.
• Since 2017, the average number of digital/electronic book titles in library collections has changed from 315,213 to 619,805, an increase of 96.6%.
• The average number of FTE libraries has remained steady in the last three years. In both 2020 and 2021 the average was 11, while the 2022 average is 12.

The 2022 survey data is available through Benchmark: Library Metrics and Trends, an online subscription service that provides access to the ACRL survey data from 1998-2022. All academic libraries have complimentary access to the tool, which includes a high-level summary of the 2022 data. Subscribers have access to interactive data dashboards, a custom peer group builder, and detailed institution-level data for self-studies, budgeting, strategic planning, annual reports, grant applications, and benchmarking. 

Please contact acrlbenchmark@ala.org with any questions. 

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for academic libraries and library workers. Representing nearly 8,500 individuals and libraries, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products, and services to help those working in academic and research libraries learn, innovate, and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning, transforming scholarship, and creating diverse and inclusive communities. Find ACRL on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.