Cannell Library welcomes record number of visitors

Yesterday was Library Snapshot Day. We had many visitors including City of Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt celebrating how important Cannell Library is to the college and community.

More students are visiting Cannell Library than ever before. Visitor counts have been increasing every fall, from 103,000 visitors in the fall of 2008, to 126,000 visitors in the fall of 2009, to 128,000 visitors in the fall of 2010 (numbers are rounded). That’s 24,000 more students in the library checking out books, using computers, and meeting with study groups, or an increase of 24% since 2008.

The increase in visitors for the entire year are even more impressive. 289,000 visitors came to the library during the 2007-2008 academic year, which increased to 329,000 visitors during the 2008-2009 academic year, and increased again to a record 394,000 visitors during the 2009-2010 academic year. That’s a 36% increase in three years and more annual visitors than Cannell has ever had.

Numbers are tracked since the gate count system was installed in 1985. The first full academic year Cannell counted its visitors was 1986-1987,  and 163,000 people visited the library. Now 24 years later, our foot traffic has increased by over 140%. That’s almost twice the population of Vancouver!