Circulation
Circulation by Item Location
| 2025-2026 | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | |
| Regular Collections | 4,549 | 5,318 | 4,279 | 4,516 | 4,321 |
| Permanent Reserves | 97 | 57 | 51 | 56 | 60 |
| Textbooks / Course Reserves | 102 | 290 | 258 | 339 | 415 |
| Maps | n/a | n/a | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Popular Collection | 215 | 212 | 138 | 173 | 223 |
| Craft Center - Smithville | 60 | 9 | 47 | 81 | 30 |
| Gretta Stanger Center | 15 | 10 | 13 | 21 | 22 |
| Technology Equipment | n/a | n/a | 2,149 | 3,105 | 3,413 |
| Umbrellas | 213 | 146 | 123 | 202 | 586 |
| TOTALS | 5,251 | 6,042 | 7,264 | 8,578 | 9,084 |
Circulation by Patron Type
| PATRON TYPE | 2025-2026 | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023* | 2021-2022* |
| Undergraduate Student | 3,469 | 4,442 | 5,766 | 6,539 | 4,915 |
| Graduate Student | 272 | 282 | 370 | 562 | 814 |
| Employee | 1,138 | 895 | 838 | 985 | 1,203 |
| Community Patron | 372 | 441 | 290 | 365 | 329 |
| TOTALS | 5,251 | 6,042 | 7,264 | 8,451 | 7,259 |
These totals do not equal the circulation by item location totals because this table does not include items that circulate through InterLibrary Loan for other libraries.
Volpe Library Circulation by Call Number
(Books and media*, not renewals)
| Call Number | 2025-2026 | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 |
| A (General Works) | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| B (Philosophy, Psychology, Religion) | 292 | 373 | 265 | 398 | 235 |
| C (Auxiliary Sciences of History) | 15 | 28 | 11 | 22 | 20 |
| D (World History) | 297 | 326 | 253 | 267 | 307 |
| E-F (History of the Americas) | 337 | 315 | 315 | 280 | 356 |
| G (Geography, Anthropology, Recreation) | 129 | 130 | 176 | 200 | 151 |
| H (Social Sciences) | 390 | 446 | 486 | 523 | 418 |
| J (Political Science) | 45 | 66 | 57 | 64 | 49 |
| K (Law) | 44 | 60 | 36 | 23 | 31 |
| L (Education) | 185 | 302 | 143 | 226 | 287 |
| M (Music) | 518 | 596 | 718 | 360 | 372 |
| N (Fine Arts) | 108 | 138 | 121 | 227 | 156 |
| P (Language and Literature) | 1,059 | 1,098 | 763 | 874 | 848 |
| Q (Science) | 581 | 545 | 386 | 537 | 489 |
| R (Medicine) | 139 | 206 | 181 | 242 | 138 |
| S (Agriculture) | 86 | 83 | 54 | 80 | 84 |
| T (Technology) | 338 | 425 | 323 | 416 | 403 |
| U (Military Science) | 21 | 18 | 27 | 18 | 17 |
| V (Naval Science) | 16 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 14 |
| Z (Bibliography, Library Science) | 41 | 33 | 20 | 91 | 37 |
| TOTALS | 4,646 | 5,375 | 4,347 | 4,868 | 4,422 |
*only includes faculty display shelf, permanent reserves, music media, oversized, and the main circulating collection.
Notes
2025-2026: Employee circulation went up this year, but overall circulation was down from last year. However, the circulation by call number, which does not include technology checkouts from previous years, shows circulation is fairly steady.
2024-2025: Help Desk Technology Checkouts are no longer tracked in the library system. Checkouts increased in every location of the Volpe Library. Help Desk Technology Checkouts are no longer tracked in the library system. One possible explanation is employees can no longer renew items indefinitely; they must physically return items every three years. These stats do not include renewals, and this is the first year employees had to start their items. Many employees check out items again immediately.
2023-2024: This year overall circulation decreased again. The government document circulation increased by quite a bit, which could be due to cataloging the government document collection so users can find the materials. The circulation of music materials doubled compared to last year. The library has purchased a lot of music scores at the request of faculty, which could account for the large increase.
2022-2023: This year overall circulation decreased slightly, but circulation increased for undergraduate students.
2021-2022: This year the Gretta Stanger Center began using our library system for their library checkouts. Overall, circulation increased as pandemic restrictions and behaviors were more relaxed except for the main library collection.
2020-2021: There was much less library traffic due to COVID-19. Library circulation of the collections was fairly steady except for decreases in textbook/course reserves, popular collection, and umbrellas. TechCheck was closed until spring semester and then only circulated laptops, which resulted in drastic decreases in technology circulation.
2019-2020: Circulation was suspended after the university went to online classes only in March 2020 through June 30, 2020.
2018-2019: Circulation was decreased by approximately 43% this year, mainly due to the drastic reduction in four-hour technology checkouts. The TechCheck desk moved back under ITS' management and was relocated by the IT Help Desk. Additionally, circulation was down in almost all call number ranges and every item location except umbrellas, which increased by approximately 600 checkouts.
2017-2018: Total circulation decreased for the first time since laptop checkouts began. Circulation in most areas was the same as last year or decreased with the exception of course reserves, which increased due to additional available textbooks.
2016-2017: Overall circulation increased again, mostly due to laptop checkouts. This was the first full year all student technology checkouts were at the front desk. The four-day equipment increased due to calculators and the newly-added umbrellas. Circulation of the regular collection increased in almost every call number range.