Last Updated 10/12/16
1. Significant Data Trends
NEGATIVE data trends:
Summary: Significant downward trends in lending of print materials, reserves (both e- and print),
most HSML stats, and entertainment DVDs.
ILL Lending (6 years of data)
-
At lowest point in last 6 years (6022 loans)
Down 10% from last year and 37% from highest point
In last 6 years, has dropped every year except 1
HSML loans (6 years of data)
-
Total loans at lowest point in last 6 years (21,407 loans)
Down 1% from last year and 49% from highest point
In last 6 years, Total loans have dropped every year except 1
Initial circs of the general collection are at their lowest point and have dropped every year of the
past 6
Entertainment DVD’s (4 years of data)
-
At lowest point in last 4 years (34,208 loans)
Down 25% from last year and 51% from highest point
Dropped by at least 10% each of the past 3 years
Total external (non-UNCG) loans (6 years of data)
-
At lowest point in last 6 years (9022 loans)
Down 13% from last year and 44% from highest point
Has dropped each of the past 6 years
Most of the drop in external loans over 6 years is from greatly reduced FOL circ (down 51% from
highest point), but FOL loans were actually up by 5% this year
UNCG patron categories (6 years of data)
-
UG, Grad, and Faculty loans are all their lowest point over the past 6 years. Staff loans are at
their second lowest point.
Grad and Faculty loans have fallen the most (down 41% from their highest point)
All patron categories (except staff/other) have fallen by at least a third in the past 3 years
Print Reserves Check out plus reserves renewals (3 years of data)
-
Has fallen over past 3 years
Fell 37% last year to 4134
Number of items placed on e-reserves (6 years of data)
-
Has been trending downwards over 6 years, but is up very slightly this year, from to 2887 to
2998
Down 60% from the highest point in last 6 years
Jackson Physical Item Use - combines check out, renewal, tech, in house, reserves (6 years)
-
Went up 3 years and down the most recent 3 years to its lowest point (221,986)
Fell 9% last year, and is down 32% from highest point
Print Collection in Jackson Tower, Initial circs (6 years of data) – Does not include tech, reserves,
renewals, or DVDs
-
Has gone down every year except one
Six years ago we had 99,350. This year we had 58,615, which reflects a 41% drop
Storage Circulations (6 years of data)
-
This number has dropped every year but one, and is now at 98
Down 86% from its highest point
Note that this storage circ numbers have always included renewals, which account for about 1020% of total use
Note that about half the storage uses are for ILL lending
The actual number of storage items used by UNCG patrons this year is probably 30-50.
HSML Gate Count (6 years of data)
-
This number has dropped every year but one, and is now at 91,518
It is down 2% from last year, and 25% from its highest point
POSITIVE data trends:
Summary: E-resource usage has been trending upwards for several years, but this year saw some
declines. The number of classes continues to climb and is the highest it has ever been.
Room Reservations (3 years of data)
-
This number has risen each year except the most recent one, when it dropped 22%. But that
drop is likely caused by having only half as many appointments available for each room, because
we shifted from 30 minute to 1 hour appointments. We should look carefully at this number
next year.
E-book usage (6 years of data)
-
Although E-books usage dropped by 6% this year, it is the second highest it has been in the past
6 years
It has risen 4 of the past 6 years, and is more than double the usage of 5 and 6 years ago
E-Journal Use
-
Ejournal use is up 9% over last year. But we only have one year of total ejournal usage data.
Big Deal e-journal usage is down this year by less than 1% to 286,131. But it has risen each of the
previous five years and is up 64% over 6 years ago.
Classes, Tours, and Presentations (6 years of data)
-
Has risen each year except one, to 948
Increased 21% over last year and 81% over 6 years ago
All 4 instructional units reported increases, ranging from 6% (DMC) to 84% (HSML)
STATS THAT WERE TRENDING POSITIVE LAST YEAR, BUT THAT MAY HAVE CHANGED DIRECTION
These statistics were reported as positive overall trends last year, but the most recent stats have called
that trend into question. There seem to be two related clusters of changing trendlines. The first cluster
relates to the number of people in the building. Library technology use and public service questions
have been our 2nd and 3rd biggest drivers of gate count (assuming that “general studying” is the biggest
driver). So, it isn’t surprising that when those two counts fall, our gate count also falls. It is hard to know
to what extent the lower gate count caused reduced usage of these services, and to what extent lower
demand for these service may have reduced gate count. The second cluster relates to requests for
assistance. Both research consultations and public service questions declined. Those numbers may also
be related to gate count.
Jackson Gate Count (6 years of data)
-
Over the past 6 years, this number has risen every year except two. But over the past 4, it has
risen two and fallen two.
This year, it fell by 2% to 1,276,379, after going up 7% the year before.
It is possible that the building is reaching the saturation point.
Technology Use
-
After going up 8% and then 4% over the previous two years, public PC use dropped this year by
10%
Laptops loans were up by about a third, after we increased the number of laptops by about a
third
This year, after we made significant additions with one-time money, Jackson “other tech” loans
were down 6%, while HSML rose 28%
Overall tech use declined by 8%, despite the fact that we added more collaboratories, public
PCs, laptops, and other tech
We don’t have historical data, but the current library technology usage levels are almost
certainly higher than they were a few years ago
Public Service Questions (6 years of data)
-
After going up 3 years in a row, the number of questions fell 4% this year to 71,064
Over the past 6 years, this number has gone up 3 times and down 3 times
This years’ number is 30% higher than 6 years ago
-
All areas except SCUA reported drops. The largest drop was the DMC (30%)
Research Consultations (4 years of data)
-
Down 3 of the last 4 years
This year, all public service units reported declines. ROI, DMC, and HSML each dropped by 1218%, while SCUA dropped only 2%
The current number is 13% below the peak, but 18% above the lowest point
Methodological Note: Throughout the section above, the number of years compared for trend lines was
the greater of either 6 years or the number of years with data using the current data definition.
2. Collections Data Highlight - Comparing Print Book and E-Book collections
and usage
Note on methodology: To reduce issues of annual variation, when comparing electronic and print books
the most recent 2 years of data of averaged.
E-books account for 42% of the book titles in our collection, and 60% of the total use. (This excludes
from consideration books on microfilm, fiche, and other formats other than print/paper and electronic).
On average, each e-book title is used twice as much as each print title (.28 uses per title vs .14 uses per
title).
We have 11.7 uses of e-books per student FTE, and 8.6 uses of print books per student FTE.
Number of titles in our catalog
Print Books,
1014713, 58%
E-books,
721500, 42%
Usage
Print Books,
137017, 40%
E-books,
205593, 60%
Note: Print usage is defined as circulation plus renewal plus ILL lending plus in house use for all formats
designated as “stacks”, but excluding entertainment DVDs.
3. Public Services Data Highlight – Instructional Sessions and Presentations
This has been one of our strongest and most consistent growth areas over the past 10 years, with an
average annual increase of over 10%. In the last decade, the number of sessions has increased 118% and
the number of attendees has increased by 153%. Both measures declined from 2007/08 to 2008/09, but
rose all the other years.
Total sessions
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09
9/10
10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16
Individual attendees
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 9/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16
Note: These numbers include tours, classes, and presentations to groups by all public service units.
4. Spaces Data Highlight – Gate count time series data
Over the past decade, overall gate count has increased 56.4%, with a 84.5% increase in Jackson, but a
47.3% decrease in HSML. Whereas, HSML accounted for 1 in 5 of the University Libraries gate count in
05/06, it now accounts for about 1 in 14. The two libraries’ gate counts have opposite long-term and
short-term trend lines.
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
05/06
06/07
07/08
2005/06
08/09
9/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
2015/16
13/14
14/15
15/16
HSML
Gate
Count,
91,518,
7%
HSML
Gate
Count,
173568,
21%
Jackson
Gate
Count,
642307,
79%
Jackson
Gate
Count,
1,184,861
, 93%
5. Time Series Data Highlight – The 21st century library. How have our stats
changed since the end of the 20th century?
All electronic collections and group study measures are up at least 300% since the end of the 20th
century. That’s hardly surprising, given that they were either non-existent or “just getting started” back
then. Of the services we actually offered at the end of the century, public PC’s and instructional sessions
have grown the most. Public Service questions have dropped nearly 50%, and all physical print collection
usage measures have fallen by more than 50%.
Note: To reduce issues of annual variation, this analysis compares the average of 2014/15 and 2015/16
with the average of 1999/00 and 2000/01. I have attempted to normalize the data to correct for data
definition changes over time.
In the following bar chart, the maximum rate of increase is arbitrarily set at 300%. If the actual rates of
increase were displayed, the chart would be illegible. Look below the cart to see the actual rates of
increase.
21st vs 20th - Percentage change
300%
250%
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%
-50%
-100%
Actual Data:
THEN
NOW
975,441
16
0
1,272,759 30%
721,500
4509275%
208,924
COLLECTIONS COUNTS
Number of print items in the collection
Number of ebooks in the collection
Streaming media and entertainment DVDs
Print journal subscriptions
Ejournal subscriptions
5,072
1,836
289
12,818
-94%
598%
All Non-electronic Collection Usage (Check out + Reshelve +
Renew + ILL)
441,493
182,874
-59%
Print book initial check out
Ebook usage
Database Sessions
Loans to Undergrads
Loans to faculty
158,472
500
189,525
208,609
19,692
61,549
205,593
941,531
118,429
30,131
-61%
41019%
397%
-43%
53%
8,193
5,523
8,484
6,353
4%
15%
Classes
Attendees
Public Service Questions
404
7,055
85,577
865
21,307
72,719
114%
202%
-15%
SPACES
Jackson Gate Count
Music Gate Count
Group Study Reservations
Collaboratories
646,600
88,536
0
0
1,198,803 85%
92,522
5%
64,536
41
TECHNOLOGY
Laptops and equipment checkout
Public PCs
0
68
39,977
244
COLLECTION USAGE
ILL
Total Borrowing
Total Loans
INTERACTIONS
259%