Points of Pride

Below is a selection of data demonstrating the use and impact of University Library collections and services. Data reported is for FY25 unless otherwise noted. Please contact Melea Reicks Licht, library communications manager, with assessment inquiries at mreicks@iastate.edu.

Download an overview of the University Library (pdf). 

Parks Library

  • 6,000-10,000

    daily visitors

  • 225

    computer workstations

  • 2,600

    seats

  • 24/7

    access to online information

Value to Iowa State University

  • For every $1 invested in the University Library, it provides $5 of value to Iowa State University 

Distinctive Collections

  • 2,259,287 physical items held
  • 1,770,830 eBooks
  • 226,973 eJournals
  • 106,618 streaming videos
  • 20,766 digital newspapers
  • 50,000+ rare books
  • 2.5+ million downloads of e-resources annually
  • 33,000+ checkouts of physical materials annually 

Research and Instruction Support

  • 7,300+ Library 1600 students
  • ~2,000 instructional session and workshop attendees
  • 2,200+ consultations (chat, email, in-person)
  • 107 instructional sessions
  • 300+ course, subject, and general purpose online library guides
  • 397,000+ total library guide views
  • The Digital Repository provides worldwide access to 119,000+ items of Iowa State scholarship
    • 36,000 student theses, dissertations, and creative components in the repository
    • ~1.5 million items downloaded/viewed annually, 48 million all-time downloads/views
  • DataShare, ISU's open data repository, consists of 600+ datasets from ~500 authors with a total of ~1.5 million downloads (all-time)
  • ISU Digital Press provides electronic publishing services to scholars and organizations - 25 books and 630 journal articles were published in FY25 across 13 journals
  • 393 new articles published across 230 journals via Open Access agreements in FY25

Access and Affordability

  • The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) saved Iowa State students $3+ million since 2018
    • In FY25: 5,500+ students were supported in 43 classes saving $524,000+
  • Course reserves supported 7,137 students and 340 courses in FY25
  • Tech Lending offers 1,200+ items (laptops, iPads, accessories), 5,000+ individuals were served in FY25 with 16,000+ bookings
  • Public computing in Parks Library: 225 public computing stations, 12 printer stations (1+ million pages annually), Studio 2B for one-button recording and streaming, high processing computer stations, and a specialized Game Learning Lab
  • Nearly $38,000 in scholarships have been awarded to 37 student employees and $25,000 provided in assistantships to 16 students since 2021
  • The library employs 100+ students
  • The Preservation Lab digitized 87,521 items and treated 24,579 items between FY15 and FY24 

Community

  • 33 study rooms available in Parks Library
  • 20,000+ group study room bookings, 13,000+ individual study room bookings, and 141 family-friendly room bookings in Parks Library
  • Cyclone Support Central, a wellness resource center in Parks Library, had 1,700+ unique points of impact and 937 student check-ins by 393 distinct students in Fall 2025

Special Collections and University Archives

  • 16 presentations
  • 639 group instruction participants
  • 426 reference transactions