Abstract
With the cooperation of ALA and others interested in library statistics, NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) has developed a national library statistics program known as LIBGIS (Library General Information Survey). The purpose of LIBGIS system is to collect comparable library statistics, involving library education and manpower statistics, for public and privately controlled libraries and information centers and for library development activities at the Federal, State, and local levels. This article reviews LIBGIS's historical development and considers its significance for the American library community.
The inception of LIBGIS evolution is found in the Statistics Coordinating Project, which was implemented by the ALA-LAD Statistics Coordinating Committee from July 1963. Thereafter, NCES had undertaken various projects and surveys as preparatory steps for LIBGIS system operation, and eventually in 1974 it conducted LIBGIS-I, or two surveys of public libraries and public school libraries/media centers.
The problems LIBGIS system is faced with are: 1) time lag between survey and data publication,
2) difficulty of maintaining uniform concepts, terminology and recording procedures, and 3) negative attitude of some librarians toward statistics.
