What we collect

Collection statistics

Table 1: Holdings by type of material

 
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09

Monographs
(including microforms, electronic media & ephemera)

2 903 382

2 953 697 3 008 746 3 059 424 3 116 098

Serials,
Current

42 459 44 055 44 504 44 462 43 806

Serials,
Non-current

126 748 126 466 130 156 144 640 151 131

Total serials 1
(including newspapers)

169 207 170 521 174 660 189 102 194 937

Manuscripts 2
(metres)

12 895 13 121 13 481 13 883 14 225

Oral History recordings 3

16 321 16 647 16 925 17 342 17 789

Music scores

189 031 192 332 194 767 197 154 200 092

Paintings, drawings, prints

64 373 70 808 73 167 74 816 75 307

Photographs

750 299 755 426 761 489 764 773 772 420

Maps

643 792 670 547 672 647 674 943 677 951

Aerial photographs

860 187 860 187 860 187 860 231 860 231

Digitised collection items

95 232 110 452 124 543 134 228 146 037

Total *

5 691 824
5 800 617
5 887 131
5 972 013
6 060 862

* Totals do not include manuscripts, which are measured in metres.

1. From 2003/04 the basis of counting serial titles changed from manual statistics to figures derived from the catalogue. Figures reflect number of titles rather than number of issues.

2. The number of manuscript items in the collection equates to 150 per metre, i.e. an additional 2,133,750 items

3. From 2004/05 the basis of counting oral history recordings changed from recording hours to title equivalents.

 

Table 2: Number of records in the online catalogue


As at the end of 2008/09 89.2% of the collection is catalogued and searchable through the online catalogue.
Note: one catalogue record can cover several collection items, so there is no direct correlation between the numbers in tables 1 and 2.

 
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09

Monographs

2 928 998 2 949 620 3 119 150 3 351 654 3 411 494

Serials

262 366 268 382 272 783 301 454 306 929

Manuscripts

16 276 17 771 18 270 19 565 19 824

Oral history

12 125 12 355 12 805 13 118 13 587

Music scores

88 752 92 365 94 975 97 354 99 551

Pictures

97 114 108 671 118 795 132 647 148 391

Maps

67 356 76 088 81 750 94 478 102 592

Total

3 472 987
3 525 252
3 718 528
4 010 270
4 102 368

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