On average, how many books do university students read in a year? It’s hard to even make a wild guess. Then, can you guess how many books you check out from your university library?

To most university students, the school library is the place where you study, do research, and take a rest. During examination periods, many students study at the library around the clock. However, students might forget one of the primary functions of the library ? checking out books.

An analysis of recent data collected by the Dongguk University Central Library reveals that the number of books checked out by students in 2010 decreased by 0.39% compared to a year earlier, while the number of books checked out by graduate students, professors, and university personnel actually increased.

According to these statistics, in 2010, 33,931 new books were added to the school library, which is ranked eighth among Korean university libraries according to total holdings. Dongguk University’s library possesses, on average, 68.1 books per student.

Statistics on library visitors show that 4,944 people visited the library every day last year, which is a 3 percent increase compared to 2009. This figure includes students who used the reading room located on the top floor of the library. 

Last year, looking at which students checked out the most books, students in the College of Liberal Arts topped the list, checking out 24.58 books for the year, followed by students majoring in Buddhist studies, who checked out 24.31 books. At the bottom of the list were students in the College of Digital Image and Contents, who checked out only 10.77 books.

Literature books were checked out the most, followed by books in the social sciences and natural sciences. Although it is not shown in the table, books on the humanities floor, located on the second basement floor, were the most popular, according to the staff librarians.

Interestingly, the total number of books checked out by undergraduate students dropped from 261,413 books in 2008 to 226,775 books in 2010. Meanwhile, the total number of books checked out by professors and other university personnel increased during the same period.

The most noticeable statistic was that the number of books checked out per student decreased by 1.35 books, while the number of books checked out by other groups of people increased. This noticeable change is somewhat worrying.

One student, majoring in economics, said, “I usually study in the reading room using my own textbooks. Although I regularly visit the library, I rarely check out books.”

A librarian pointed out another reason why the number of books being checked out is declining. He explained that the young generation’s reliance on mobile technology plays a large role.

“Various reading materials like E-books can easily be read on mobile devices such as smart phones or tablet PCs. That’s one reason why many students don’t check out as many books from the library as they used to,” Kim Jin-ho, a staff librarian, said. “But one thing students have to know is that traditional books are far more memorable than books in electronic formats,” he added.

Lee Jong-seok  bigbell414@dongguk.edu

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