A Vision investigation has revealed that fewer library books were removed from the library in 2012 than in 2011, despite the increasing number of students at the University of York.
In 2012, 194,197 books were taken out of the library, a decline on the figure from 2011, which totalled 200,700.
The increased digitisation of content means that students can now access reading online, rather than having to remove hard copies of the text from the library, partly explaining the figures. As of May 3, a total of 112,072 books have been taken out by students during 2013.
A stunned second year Politics student told Vision: “I’m amazed that we’re now taking out less books than in previous years; I virtually live in the library and have removed hundreds myself this year.”
The data also shows that postgraduates take out a significant proportion of these items, removing over 74,000 copies in 2012, and over 40,000 during the first five months of this year.
In total the JB Morrell Library holds 613,405 books, whilst the number of copies that have either been stolen, lost or not returned per year has increased significantly over the past five years. In 2010 only 47 items fell under this classification, but by 2012 the correlating figure had soared to 510, an increase of 463.
I think the only thing “getting stupider” here is this ridiculous headline…