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ScholarWorks at WMU reaches 20 million downloads

Contact: Sara Volmering
February 11, 2025
Map with bubbled indicating number of items read by various countries around the world.
The items in ScholarWorks at WMU can be accessed from anywhere online, extending the creators' work to a global audience.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—ScholarWorks at WMU, Western Michigan University’s institutional repository, achieved a new milestone in November, reaching over 20 million downloads and elevating the work of Western faculty, researchers, staff and students globally.

With over 92,000 items, ScholarWorks preserves and makes accessible conference proceedings, journal articles, papers, oral histories, dissertations, theses, creative works and other content submitted by Western creators. Hosting and managing the University's institutional repository is critical to the University Libraries' mission.

The Libraries created ScholarWorks as a permanent digital archive for the Western community in 2009. Since its creation, the repository has grown exponentially in both downloads and content. Early projects like digitizing Western’s dissertation and theses collection and hosting open journals with ties to the University helped the repository grow.

Access ScholarWorks to explore these digital collections.

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