This report presents tabulations for the 2008 Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) conducted by the United States Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences. This First Look summarizes services, staff, collections, and expenditures of academic libraries in 2- and 4-year, degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among the many findings: (1) During Fiscal year (FY) 2008, there were about 138.1 million circulation transactions from academic libraries' general collection; (2) At the end of FY 2008, there were 226 academic libraries that held 1 million or more books, serial backfiles, and other paper materials including government documents; (3) Academic libraries reported 93,438 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working in academic libraries during the fall of 2008; (4) Academic libraries' expenditures totaled approximately $6.8 billion during FY 2008; (5) In Fall 2008, some 72 percent of academic libraries provided library reference service by e-mail or the Web; and (6) During FY 2008, some 46 percent of academic libraries reported that their postsecondary institution defined information literacy or the information literate student. (Contains 36 tables.)