These stats reflect what's happened this year, between July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. 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 3,229 books, DVDs, and videos from us (1,249 from our local collection, 1,353 ordered from other MU libraries, and 627 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 13% decrease from 2012-2013. We also received 65 articles, books, and audiovisual items from libraries worldwide through interlibrary loan.
- The GHL collection registered 4,048 checkouts (that's the 1,249 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 1617 items sent to OhioLINK users, and 1,182 sent to other MU libraries - that means that more than 60% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 10% decrease from 2012-2013. We also sent 116 articles, books, and audiovisual items to libraries worldwide through interlibrary loan.
- GHL patrons checked out 2,148 reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reserves, textbooks on reserve, laptops, iPads, and other equipment). That is an 17% decrease from 2012-2013.
- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty, staff, and students ordered 1,047 items to add to our collection this year. That is a 21% decrease from 2012-2013. That total includes 5 e-books.
- We registered a total of 6,304 checkouts of items in our collection (reserves and circulating materials). The circulating items at GHL number 28,847, so each item in the collection circulated 0.21 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 our to patrons of other OhioLINK libraries. We had 423 items sent from OhioLINK libraries and checked out at GHL by patrons from other OhioLINK institutions (using our Pickup Anywhere service - an 87% increase from 2012-13). We also had 80 of our items borrowed by these OhioLINK patrons in person - a 95% increase from 2012-13).
The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons downloaded 8,710 full-text articles from Ebsco databases provided to us through OhioLINK . This reflects a new way of measuring your search activity, mainly due to the addition of our Articles & More service in the fall of 2012. Since that service searches multiple databases at once, our number of searches was multiplied by the number of databases. So, we'll stick with article downloads and search sessions (7,512 in 2013-2014).
- On their way to these databases, 46 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 16,906 visits for the year, by 6,285 unique individuals. That's a 1% drop in visits and a 16% increase in unique visitors from 2012-2013.
A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 61 hours per week.
- We average 280 visitors per day, for a total of 67,207 visits this year. This reflects a 21% increase from 2012-2013.
- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for single class sessions. We also had 2 classes meet there weekly during fall semester and 2 met there during the spring. We also made use of our study rooms, with 1 class meeting weekly during the fall in STAR Lounge 1, and 6 classes meeting weekly during the fall and 6 classes meeting weekly during the spring in STAR Lounge 2.
- Our two STAR Lounges have been checked out 108 times this year by students. 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 630 questions that we answered from our InfoDesk during the year, which averages out to nearly 3 per day. We do not log every question,we answered, nor every time we check books out, but we try to capture all lengthy interactions with you. 39% of those questions involved technology questions, 29% focused on circulation procedures or policies, 18% were directing people to locations or resources in the library or on campus, and 14% were research-related. 68% of all questions were asked in-person at the desk, while 23% were by phone, 3% by text or instant messaging, and 5% came through email. Below is an image of the most common words that the questions involved.
- Our Embedded Librarian program reached students from 80 course sections in their Niihka course sites during the academic year (that is a 19% increase over 2012-2013). We helped over 2065 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)
- downloads three full-text articles each year.
- accesses the library web site seven 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!
