Facts and figures

April 2023⁠—March 2024

View of the McPherson Library from the quad on a sunny day.

Did you know? UVic Libraries provides access to 4,122,864 physical and electronic titles.

Students gather to study in the Mearns Centre stairwell

Did you know? There are over 2,000 seats in UVic Libraries accessible to students.

A class of students studies archival materials

Did you know? Last year we delivered 415 classes on library and archival resources.

Library visits

  • 744,681 visitors to Mearns - McPherson Library 
  • 30,696 study room bookings 
  • 1,883 open study seats 
  • 94,377 log-ins to computer workstations 
  • 214,429 transactions at our Ask Us Desk 

Library collections

1,224,534 visitors to our website

1,520,605 searches in Primo (our main search tool) 

UVic Libraries provides access to over: 

  • 1,547,218 physical titles 
  • 2,575,646 electronic titles 
  • 141,678 journals 
  • 969 databases 

Did you know we have textbooks in our collections?

  • 295 electronic textbooks for current UVic courses
  • saving students over $650,000 in textbook costs 

Special Collections and University Archives

  • 2,415.4 linear metres of manuscripts and archival materials 
  • 6,889 uses of materials in-house 

Support and instruction

  • 125 library employees 
  • 587 students per librarian 
  • 5,610 research help questions answered 
  • 272 digital skills workshops 
  • 415 instructional sessions on library and archives resources 

Research and publishing support

  • 7 ongoing partnerships on grant-funded research 
  • 16 letters of support written for sponsored research
The Libraries support Open Access through publisher memberships and license agreements. Last year we saved authors over $456,204 in Author Processing Charges (APCs)   

Community and outreach

  • 918 active community card holders (3,205 total)
  • 14 public events and exhibits