The Nation's Largest Libraries
A listing by volumes held
ALA Library Fact Sheet Number 22This fact sheet lists the top 100 largest libraries in the United States by volumes held.
| Number | Source | Institution | Volumes Held |
| 1 | L | Library of Congress | 30,011,748 |
| 2 | A | Harvard University | 15,555,533 |
| 3 | P | Boston Public Library | 15,458,022 |
| 4 | A | Yale University | 12,025,695 |
| 5 | A | University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign | 10,370,777 |
| 6 | P | County of Los Angeles Public Library | 10,117,319 |
| 7 | A | University of California - Berkeley | 9,985,905 |
| 8 | A | Columbia University | 9,277,042 |
| 9 | P | Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County | 9,148,846 |
| 10 | A | University of Texas - Austin | 8,937,002 |
| 11 | S | Stanford University | 8,200,000 |
| 12 | A | University of Michigan | 8,133,917 |
| 13 | A | University of California - Los Angeles | 8,064,896 |
| 14 | A | University of Wisconsin - Madison | 7,911,834 |
| 15 | A | Cornell University | 7,644,371 |
| 16 | P | Detroit Public Library | 7,572,562 |
| 17 | A | University of Chicago | 7,363,549 |
| 18 | A | Indiana University | 7,241,929 |
| 19 | A | University of Washington | 6,639,850 |
| 20 | A | University of Minnesota | 6,587,430 |
| 21 | P | Queens Borough Public Library | 6,557,823 |
| 22 | A | Princeton University | 6,495,597 |
| 23 | P | Los Angeles Public Library | 6,393,429 |
| 24 | P | Free Library of Philadelphia | 6,307,978 |
| 25 | A | Ohio State University | 5,936,434 |
| 26 | P | Chicago Public Library | 5,891,661 |
| 27 | P | New York Public Library | 5,879,441 |
| 28 | A | University of Pennsylvania | 5,760,065 |
| 29 | A | University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | 5,710,686 |
| 30 | A | Duke University | 5,560,966 |
| 31 | A | University of Arizona | 5,340,726 |
| 32 | A | University of Virginia | 5,053,162 |
| 33 | A | Pennsylvania State University Libraries | 5,031,196 |
| 34 | A | New York University | 4,939,724 |
| 36 | A | Michigan State University | 4,830,861 |
| 37 | A | University of Oklahoma | 4,796,089 |
| 38 | A | University of Pittsburgh | 4,786,175 |
| 35 | B | Brooklyn Public Library | 4,630,323 |
| 39 | A | Northwestern University Library | 4,603,824 |
| 40 | A | University of Iowa | 4,551,217 |
| 41 | P | San Diego Public Library | 4,514,228 |
| 42 | P | Dallas Public Library | 4,199,655 |
| 43 | A | University of Georgia | 4,179,316 |
| 44 | A | Rutgers University | 4,169,347 |
| 45 | A | Arizona State University Libraries | 4,156,732 |
| 46 | P | Miami-Dade Public Library System | 4,142,711 |
| 47 | A | University of Florida | 4,137,528 |
| 48 | A | University of Kansas | 4,121,573 |
| 49 | P | Cleveland Public Library | 4,107,112 |
| 50 | P | Houston Public Library | 4,060,443 |
| 51 | A | University of Southern California | 3,921,704 |
| 52 | A | Washington University - St. Louis | 3,694,504 |
| 53 | A | Johns Hopkins University | 3,648,821 |
| 54 | A | Brigham Young University | 3,621,577 |
| 55 | A | University of Rochester | 3,564,683 |
| 56 | A | University of Colorado | 3,554,826 |
| 57 | A | North Carolina State University | 3,530,949 |
| 58 | A | Brown University | 3,509,710 |
| 59 | A | University of California - Davis | 3,490,356 |
| 60 | A | University of South Carolina | 3,478,256 |
| 61 | P | Hawaii State Public Library System | 3,452,240 |
| 62 | P | Mid-Continent Public Library | 3,448,146 |
| 63 | A | Texas A&M University Libraries | 3,437,376 |
| 64 | A | University of Hawaii | 3,410,468 |
| 65 | A | Louisiana State University | 3,406,434 |
| 66 | A | State University of New York - Buffalo | 3,390,583 |
| 67 | A | Wayne State University | 3,383,826 |
| 68 | P | King County Library System | 3,372,574 |
| 69 | P | St. Louis Public Library | 3,364,996 |
| 70 | P | Broward County Libraries Division | 3,351,668 |
| 71 | P | Cuyahoga County Public Library | 3,316,816 |
| 72 | A | University of Kentucky | 3,286,731 |
| 73 | A | University of Maryland | 3,259,600 |
| 74 | A | University of Missouri - Columbia | 3,249,783 |
| 75 | A | University of Connecticut | 3,247,976 |
| 76 | P | Buffalo & Erie County Public Library | 3,236,363 |
| 77 | A | University of Utah | 3,230,854 |
| 78 | A | University of Massachusetts | 3,204,025 |
| 79 | A | University of Notre Dame | 3,185,926 |
| 80 | A | Syracuse University | 3,161,529 |
| 81 | A | University of California - San Diego | 3,149,836 |
| 82 | A | University of Cincinnati Libraries | 3,123,318 |
| 83 | A | Emory University | 3,107,525 |
| 84 | A | Vanderbilt University | 3,056,707 |
| 85 | A | Temple University | 3,016,007 |
| 86 | A | Southern Illinois University - Carbondale | 2,999,736 |
| 87 | P | Minneapolis Public Library | 2,986,326 |
| 88 | A | University of Tennessee - Knoxville | 2,971,837 |
| 89 | P | Milwaukee Public Library | 2,960,818 |
| 90 | A | University of Nebraska - Lincoln | 2,942,946 |
| 91 | A | Auburn University | 2,918,859 |
| 92 | P | Toledo-Lucas County Public Library | 2,917,835 |
| 93 | P | Enoch Pratt Free Library | 2,903,223 |
| 94 | A | Florida State University Library | 2,889,810 |
| 95 | P | St. Louis County Library District | 2,846,307 |
| 96 | A | University of California - Santa Barbara | 2,837,752 |
| 97 | P | Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library | 2,819,837 |
| 98 | A | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2,782,406 |
| 99 | P | Columbus Metropolitan Library | 2,719,477 |
| 100 | A | Kent State University Libraries | 2,715,986 |
Sources
L=Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2005 (not yet available online). Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2006. See Appendix L.Statistical Tables, Table 5.Additions to the Collection--Items, Total Print Collections (page 223). Member of ARL (Association of Research Libraries <http://www.arl.org>).
A=ARL Statistics 2004-05: A Compilation of Statistics from the One Hundred and Twenty-Three Members of the Association of Research Libraries (Compiled And Edited by Martha Kyrillidou and Mark Young). See the report, which is available as an Adobe Reader PDF file at the ARL web site for more information.
P=Public Library Data Service Statistical Report 2006. Chicago: Public Library Association (PLA, a division of the American Library Association <http://www.ala.org/pla>), 2006. See the PLDS Statistical Report web page for more information.
S=Stanford Facts 2006: Stanford Libraries. Former member of ARL.
B=Direct communication from the Brooklyn Public Library.
Users should be aware that public library and academic library collections are dissimilar.
NOTE: Previous versions of this fact sheet can be accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine using the original URL <http://www.ala.org/library/fact22.html>. And this URL still works as a "shortcut" link to this web page.
December 2006
For more information on this or other fact sheets, including copies of previous versions, contact the ALA Library Reference Desk by telephone: 800-545-2433, extension 2153; fax: 312-280-3255; e-mail: library@ala.org; or regular mail: ALA Library, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611-2795.