The 2019 Public Libraries Survey (PLS) reported that Pennsylvania had a total of 452 public library jurisdictions employing 1,642.95 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff categorized as librarians (1,143.07 FTE are reported as having an American Library Association (ALA) accredited Master’s degree); similarly, the Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) reported that 167 institutions of higher education employ 1,254.16 FTE librarians. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics’ (NCES) Elementary/Secondary Information System (ElSi), Pennsylvania’s 788 public school districts employ 1,588.63 full-time librarians. Total FTE library staff is about 4,670 in 644 public library outlets, and nearly half of all libraries (47%) are in the suburbs.
Given Pennsylvania’s population of 13,002,700, the state’s annual Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grants to States program allotment from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) of approximately $5.63 million per year translates into $0.434 per person on an annual basis. LSTA funds alone are inadequate to meet the library and information needs of Pennsylvania’s approximately 13 million residents. The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Office of Commonwealth Libraries’ (PDE-OCL) challenge is to find ways to make $ 0.43 per person transformative in terms of library services; to leverage a relatively small amount of money to accomplish major results by strategically deploying funds and leveraging other public and private monies in support of high-quality library and information services.