Here are the full annual stats from fiscal year 2015 (the 2014-15 academic year) for several of the Gardner-Harvey Library's (GHL) services. I hope you will find them useful to see how people use the library. Check at the bottom of the document to see how you compare to the average GHL user.
These stats reflect what's happened this year, between July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. Some stats we keep locally, others we pull from university-wide or OhioLINK-wide systems, and some are provided by database vendors.
Both a Borrower and a Lender Be
- GHL patrons checked out 2,912 books, DVDs, and videos from us (1,102 from our local collection, 1,193 ordered from other MU libraries, and 617 items ordered from OhioLINK - that means that more than 60% of the items used by campus patrons came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 10% decrease in borrowing from 2013-2014. We also received 55 articles, books, and audiovisual items from libraries worldwide through interlibrary loan.
- The GHL collection registered 3,589 checkouts (that's the 1,102 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 1503 items sent to OhioLINK users, and 984 sent to other MU libraries - that means that 70% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL). That is an 11% decrease in checkouts from 2013-2014. We also sent 98 articles, books, and audiovisual items to libraries worldwide through interlibrary loan.
- GHL patrons checked out 2,391 reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reserves, textbooks on reserve, laptops, iPads, and other equipment). That is an 11% increase from 2013-2014.
- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty, staff, and students ordered 994 items to add to our collection this year. That is a 5% decrease from 2013-2014. That total includes 4 e-books.
- We registered a total of 5,980 checkouts of items in our collection (reserves and circulating materials). The circulating items at GHL number 29,348, so each item in the collection circulated 0.20 times this year (all items in our library circulate).
- One additional item of interest on item checkouts that happen at our library is the number of items checked out to patrons of other OhioLINK libraries. We had 195 items sent from OhioLINK libraries and checked out at GHL by patrons from other OhioLINK institutions (using our Pickup Anywhere service - a 46% decrease from 2013-14). We also had 18 of our items borrowed by OhioLINK patrons at a different OhioLINK library - a 77% decrease from 2013-14).
The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons spent 9,795 search sessions downloading 12,544 full-text articles from Ebsco databases provided to us through Miami University and OhioLINK. This only represents use of the databases on campus. Those numbers reflect a 30% increase in search sessions and a 44% increase in downloads from 2013-2014).
- On their way to these databases, 43 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 15,729 visits for the year, by 6,710 unique individuals. That's a 7% drop in visits and a 7% increase in unique visitors from 2013-2014.
A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 57 hours per week.
- We average 260 visitors per day, for a total of 62,334 visits this year. This reflects a 7% decrease from 2013-2014 (we also decreased our hours by 6%).
- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for single class sessions. We also had 3 classes meet there weekly during fall semester and 4 met there during the spring. We also made use of our study rooms with 7 classes meeting weekly during the fall and 5 classes meeting weekly during the spring in STAR Lounge 2.
- Our two STAR Lounges have been checked out 137 times this year by students. That represents a 27% increase from 2013-14. They were also used weekly by librarians and other faculty and staff members for meetings.
Helping You Find What You Need
- We logged a total of 414 questions that we answered from our InfoDesk during the year, which averages out to nearly 2 per day. We do not log every question we answer, nor every time we check books out, but we try to capture all lengthy interactions with you.
- 35% of those questions involved technology questions, 29% focused on circulation procedures or policies, 21% were directing people to locations or resources in the library or on campus, and 15% were research-related. 60% of all questions were asked in-person at the desk, while 27% were by phone, 3% by text or instant messaging, and 10% came through email.
- Our Embedded Librarian program reached students from 80 course sections in their Niihka and Canvas course sites during the academic year (that is the same number we had in 2013-2014). We helped over 1,777 students with their information needs through the program.
What don't we know about how the library is used?
- One key part missing from these figures is off-campus use of library resources: all off-campus use is tallied as MU-wide use, so we do not know how many Middletown patrons are using databases from home. We have also lost meaningful data for on-campus use from some of our OhioLINK full-text resources.
- We don't have campus-specific stats for all database searches - we're missing uses of Lexis-Nexis and other databases.
- We hope you'll continue to let us know what you think about the library, what you need from us, and what materials we should order for the collection.
On Average
Taking these numbers and guesstimating a total Middletown community of 2500 students, faculty and staff members (and including community patrons), here's what can be said about the average person on campus. She:
- checks two items out from the library in a year (reserves and local/MU/OhioLINK collection items)
- visits the library 25 times per year
- downloads five full-text articles each year.
- accesses the library web site six times per year.
- participates in a library instruction session or an embedded librarian course more than once per year (if she is a student).
Thanks to everyone for making the library and its resources a vital part of your academic lives!
