Libraries are not obsolete

“For all the talk about how the Internet might lead students and others to abandon libraries, there’s new evidence that any decline has been minimal. In a typical week in the fall of 2006, “gate count” at academic libraries was 18,765,712 — or an average of 5,188 per college or university library. The term refers to the number who physically enter and individuals who enter repeatedly are counted more than once. The figures come from “Academic Libraries 2006,” released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics. The average gate count per week per library is down 2 percent since 2004, the last time the agency conducted the survey. Other highlights of the new survey: The 3,600 academic libraries in the United States collectively hold 1 billion books and other paper materials; there were 221 libraries holding at least 1 million books and other paper materials; total expenditures were $6.2 billion — about half of that sum on salaries.”

From http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/09/qt