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ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics: Brief History of Academic Library Statistics

Information to assist libraries in gathering and reporting statistics for the ACRL survey.

Brief History of Academic Library Statistics

2023: The Department of Education proposes ending the Academic Libraries portion of the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS).

2021: ACRL launches ACRL Benchmark.

2015: ACRL/ARL/ALA establishes IPEDS Academic Library Component Advisory Task Force.

2015: ACRL annual survey changes to incorporate IPEDS ALC and old NCES ALS plus trends questions.

2014: IPEDS debuts new Academic Library Component which replaces NCES Academic Library Survey.

2011: ACRL launches ACRL Metrics to provide online access to ACRL survey data from 1998-present. Includes selected IPEDS data.

2000-2012:  Federal data collection shifts from IPEDS to NCES with biennial Academic Library Survey.

1998: ACRL begins publishing annual Academic Library Trends and Statistics survey results using ARL survey instrument.

1988-1998: Federal data collection shifts from NCES to IPEDS with IPEDS collecting in even years, and ACRL collecting in odd years.

1980-1997: ACRL begins publishing ACRL University Library Statistics.

1966-1986: NCES collects academic library statistics every 2 years.

1947: ACRL statistics committee founded.

1942: American Library Association encourages its division (Association of College and Research Libraries) to assume responsibility for gathering/compiling academic library statistics.