本标准确定了国家级报告的基本图书馆统计数据的类别，并提供了相关术语的定义。在这样做时，它涉及以下领域:报告单位和目标人口、人力资源、收集资源、基础设施、财务和服务。此外，该标准还确定了与网络服务、数据库和性能相关的新措施。这些措施在不同层面上进行了报告，在撰写本文时，这些措施正慢慢地被纳入国家图书馆的统计数据报告中。本标准的范围并不全面。 相反，它通过描述与美国各种类型图书馆有关的常见元素，为可比图书馆数据提供了一个框架。它没有涉及特定领域的详细统计数据，这些领域的专家似乎更适合提出建议（例如音乐、政府文件和地图）。本标准旨在帮助信息界识别、定义、收集和解释用于描述美国图书馆现状和状况的统计数据。此外，它还协助该社区收集必要的数据，以支持旨在改善图书馆绩效和提高图书馆效率的研究和分析。

This standard identifies categories for basic library statistical data reported at the national level, and provides associated definitions of terms. In doing so it deals with the following areas:reporting unit and target population,human resources,collection resources, infrastructure, finances and services.In addition, the standard identifies new measures associated with networked services, databases, and performance. These measures are reported at a variety of levels, and at the time of this writing were slowly being incorporated into national library statistical data reports.This standard is not intended to be comprehensive in scope. Instead, it presents a framework for comparable library data by describing common elements pertaining to libraries of various types in the US. It does not address detailed statistics for specific areas where it seems more appropriate for experts in those areas to make recommendations (e.g., music, government documents, and maps).The purpose of this standard is to assist the information community in the identification, definition, collection and interpretation of statistical data used to describe the current status and condition of libraries in the US. In addition, it assists that community in collecting the data necessary to support research and analysis directed toward improving the performance of libraries and enhancing library effectiveness.