University Libraries

University Libraries
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5353 USA
(269) 387-5059 for information
(269) 387-5155 for hours

Library Facts 2022-23

Each year, we gather statistics for the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) surveys. Here are some highlights from our 2022-23 fiscal year.

Employees

  • Librarians (FTE): 20
  • Support staff (FTE): 33.12
  • Student assistants (FTE): 12.89

Use and services

  • Library personnel handled 9,512 research queries in person, by phone and online.
  • Librarians provided 525 instructional sessions and workshops reaching 9,889 participants.
  • Annual gate count was 224,266 with 4,485 people coming into the Libraries in an average week.
  • 18,911 physical items were checked out during the year (not counting renewals).
  • WMU Libraries borrowed 4,432 items for WMU users from other libraries and lent 9,160 from our collections to other libraries.
  • Libraries' website was visited 111,662 times.
  • WMU users retrieved 502,493 articles and 1,032,986 e-books and media items.
  • There were 2,014,618 downloads worldwide from WMU’s institutional repository (ScholarWorks).
  • 890,959 pages were printed in the Libraries.
  • Users logged in to public computers 64,212 times.

This use and services data was compiled from a variety of sources.

Collections

  • Physical books (titles): 952,241
  • Electronic books: 1,174,770
  • Physical serials (titles): 16,685
  • Electronic serials: 123,839
  • Online databases: 713
  • Physical media titles (audio/visual): 56,869
  • Digital media titles: 316,109
  • Items held in WMU’s institutional repository (ScholarWorks): 76,072

This collections data was compiled from a variety of sources.

Unless otherwise stated, these statistics cover all branches of Western Michigan University Libraries.

  • Research queries: Reference Analytics transactions in LibAnswers, a ticketing system by Springshare; includes all question types (reference, consultation, etc.) and formats (in-person, phone, email, live chat, etc.).
  • Instructional sessions and workshops: Number of records for Research Instruction Analysis dataset and number of records for Events, Orientations, Workshops, Tours dataset in LibInsight, a data and usage analytics platform for libraries by Springshare.
  • Gate count: Number generated by security gates at the entrances of Waldo Library and Zhang Legacy Collections Center.
  • Physical items checked out: Loan counts by title in Alma Analytics, a data analysis and reporting tool by Ex Libris for our integrated library system; excludes circulation of equipment and markers.
  • Items borrowed from other libraries: Borrowing requests count from Fill Rate Statistics web report in ILLiad Client by Atlas Systems, an interlibrary loan management tool.
  • Items lent to other libraries:  Lending requests count from Fill Rate Statistics web report in ILLiad Client.
  • Website visits: Sessions count for webpages filtered by wmich.edu/library subdirectory in Google Analytics, a website tracking tool. 
  • Articles retrieved: 
  • E-books and media items retrieved: 
  • ScholarWorks downloads: Downloads in the past year count in Digital Commons, an institutional repository and publishing platform for scholarly works by bepress.
  • Page printed in the Libraries: Total pages count in PaperCut, a print management tool that provides printing access to students across campus.
  • Public computers usage: Login sessions count in LabStats, a computer management system that tracks software and hardware usage across campus.
  • Physical books (titles): Sum of total titles count for physical items in Alma Analytics.
  • Electronic books: Sum of total titles count for electronic items in Alma Analytics.
  • Physical serials (titles): Sum of total physical titles with material type set to “journal” in Alma Analytics.
  • Electronic serials: Sum of total electronic titles with availability set to “available” and material type set to “journal” in Alma Analytics.
  • Online databases: Electronic collections count in Alma Analytics.
  • Physical media titles (audio/visual): Sum of total physical titles using calculations from map total, music total, visual material total and microform title count. 
  • Digital media titles: Sum of total electronic titles from streaming audio and streaming video in Alma Analytics.
  • ScholarWorks items: Total papers count in Digital Commons.