MIT Libraries data

Library use

In tracking library usage at MIT, three useful measures of how heavily a library is used are the number of volumes held (i.e., all physical documents on the library shelves), the gate count (i.e., how many times people enter through the front door), and how many times books are checked out, not counting renewals.

We have separated out Hayden Library’s specific statistics because of MIT is in the process of planning a renovation for Hayden as well. For these numbers, we are looking at the 2015-2016 academic year.

Volumes held (MIT Library overall): 23,456,904
Volumes held (Hayden Library specifically): 278,600

Gate Count (MIT Library overall): 545,062
Gate Count (Hayden Library specifically): 124,595

Checkouts (MIT Library overall): 90,100
Checkouts (Hayden Library specifically): 42,876

Community demographics

In any discussion about how we should imagine libraries, we must think about the communities that they serve, both with respect to gender and ethnicity. Here we must pay attention not only to the university community but also the larger population surrounding it.

For MIT, we examined the population of both the city of Cambridge, MA, and the student population (both graduate and undergraduate students) of MIT as a university. For these numbers, we are looking at the 2015-2016 academic year and the estimates by the census for 2015.

Gender

Cambridge (110,402 residents)

Female: 51.4%
Male: 48.6%

MIT (11,331 students)

Male: 62.1%
Female: 37.8%

Ethnicity

Cambridge (110,402 residents)

Hispanic: 7.6%
White Non-Hispanic: 66.6%
Black or African American: 11.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.2%
Asian: 15.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander:

MIT (11,331 students)

Hispanic/Latino: 8.3%
White: 37.6%
Black or African American: 4.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native: 1.2%
Asian: 18.4% (4,303)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.2%
International: 29.7%