How to count a New York school library collection
New York requires a library in every school. TitleEntry gives you the title count in days, not weeks.
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In New York State, a school library must be established and maintained in each school, under Section 91.1 of the Commissioner’s Regulations. For secondary schools the regulation also sets a minimum number of titles, which makes an accurate count a practical need rather than a nicety. See also the US school library inventory guide.
A New York school library count in four steps
Scan what is on the shelves
Scan barcodes with a phone camera or USB scanner, or photograph shelves of books without barcodes and let the AI shelf scanner read the spines. Each book becomes one record, so counting titles is a matter of reading the list.
Tag each book with its shelf
Name each shelf or collection before you scan it, so every book is recorded against where it sits. Moving a book to another shelf later is one edit, not a re-scan.
Count the titles
The catalogue is a live list of what is physically on the shelves, one record per title with a quantity for copies, so the number of titles and the number of volumes are both easy to see. That is the figure to hold against the secondary-school minimums in Section 91.1.
Export the record
Export the catalogue to Excel to keep a dated record of your title count. It opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
Other state guides: Ohio, Texas and Florida. For all countries, see school library inventory. Read more about the AI bookshelf scanner and ISBN scanning.
What Section 91.1 sets for secondary schools
Under Section 91.1, a secondary school with fewer than 200 pupils must hold at least 1,000 titles (junior high or high school) or 2,000 titles (junior-senior high school). Schools with 200 to 500 pupils must hold at least 3,000 titles, 500 to 1,000 pupils at least 5,000, and more than 1,000 pupils at least 8,000.
Elementary and secondary
The regulation requires every elementary and secondary school library to meet the needs of its pupils and complement the instructional programme. Name each school library, and any classroom or department collection, as its own location, so one catalogue can cover a whole district.
Honest about what TitleEntry is and is not
TitleEntry is a cataloguing and export tool. It is not a library management system: no circulation, no patron accounts, no overdue tracking and no OPAC. It counts and records what is on the shelves; it does not decide whether a collection meets a regulation. See our guide to book cataloguing software for how the options compare.
If your district already runs a library system, use the export as a spreadsheet to check it against the shelves. If it has none, TitleEntry builds the catalogue from the books themselves. For your own compliance questions, ask your school library system or the New York State Education Department.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Section 91.1 of the Commissioner’s Regulations says a school library shall be established and maintained in each school, and that the library in each elementary and secondary school shall meet the needs of the pupils and complement the instructional programme.
Section 91.1 sets minimums by size. Under 200 pupils: 1,000 titles for a junior high or high school, 2,000 for a junior-senior high school. 200 to 500 pupils: 3,000 titles. 500 to 1,000 pupils: 5,000. Over 1,000 pupils: 8,000. Check the current regulation for your own school.
Scan every book with a phone camera or USB scanner, and photograph shelves of books without barcodes so the AI shelf scanner reads the spines. Each book becomes one record, with a quantity for copies of the same edition, so you can read off the number of titles.
No. It builds an accurate catalogue and count. Whether that count meets the regulation, and how titles are counted for reporting, is a question for your school library system or the State Education Department.
No. It catalogues, counts and exports, with no circulation, patron accounts or overdue tracking. If your district already has a library system, use the export to check it against the shelves. If not, the catalogue can be your record.
Get in touch and we will talk through your collections and set you up.
Last verified 6 October 2026. Sources: 8 NYCRR 91.1, School Libraries; New York State Education Department, school library services.