This document summarizes statistics on book collections and usage across Nebraska public libraries grouped by population size of their service area. The largest libraries serve areas with over 10,000 people and have the largest book collections averaging over 25,000 volumes, while the smallest libraries serve under 500 people and have collections averaging around 7,500 volumes. Withdrawal rates of existing volumes averaged between 5-9% annually across all categories.
Weeding statistics by Nebraska library population size
1. Category by Population of
Weeding Statistics for Nebraska Public Libraries
Average (Mean) Pop. of
Ratio of Additions to
3% of vols. for average
Book Collection Size Book Withdrawals
Vols. Per library user
Withdrawals
# Public Libraries in
legal service area
library Svc. Area
collection in
collection in
(Mean) for
collection
Category
Category
Category
Smallest
category
Average
Average
Average
Largest
High
High
Low
Low
# # # # # # # % % %
100-499 53 313 7472 924 15532 25.62 224.16 5.00 0.00 21.00 2.16 0.24 7.59
500-999 64 735 11568 2745 24584 15.98 347.04 5.22 0.46 22.70 3.39 0.13 0.08
1000-1999 49 1378 15284 6738 33627 11.27 458.52 7.90 0.00 55.98 5.098 0.015 24.48
2000-4999 23 3067 27225 10519 44538 8.98 816.75 6.10 0.06 16.36 4.97 0.34 78.50
5000-9999 18 7063 36093 21077 59446 5.10 1082.8 7.81 2.66 22.44 1.26 0.40 2.47
10000-49999 14 25277 85525 32856 140558 3.65 2565.8 8.71 3.03 15.52 1.10 0.31 2.00
Based on Public Library Statistical Data 2008/2009