We return once again to our Affiliation statistics, this time for Spring 2025. We conducted our semi-annual survey between March 25th and April 6th this spring, surveying our library patrons on alternating days so as to collect data for each day of the week within that span. To everyone who participated and shared your program or affiliation with us, thank you! Understanding who is utilizing our library and how is important to how we conceptualize our space and adjust it to better serve you. Now for what you’ve been waiting for, a summary of the library use by affiliation.
What programs are using the library?
It’s unsurprising that with over 800 dental students on campus each year, our library is the place they choose to study, chat, and grab a cup of coffee. This spring, we saw 826 dental students over the course of seven days, spread across all four floors. (Can you guess which one they used the most? Keep reading to find out!). These students comprised 44% of the total patrons in the library during that period!
The medical students were the second most populous group in the library during our survey, with their total count coming in at 479, or 26% of the total patron population during that period. If we extrapolate the math and hypothesize that it’s mainly first years and second years studying for Step 1, with a bit over half the dental students’ volume, a roughly comparable percentage were utilizing our space!
The third most active group in the library was the MBS program, clocking in at just under 300 students in the library during our survey period. With the density of exams y’all have, and masters theses in the works, we’re glad you’ve chosen the library as a place to get your work done!
Going down the line, MPH was the next biggest group (120), followed at a safe distance by Tufts Medical Center Staff (38), Other Affiliates (36), and Nutrition students (31). Physicians Assistants (21) and other Tufts community members (16) are our final in double digits, with GSBS (5) and Physical Therapy (3) rounding out the count.
What parts of the library are used the most?
The four floors of the library all have their own strengths and appeals. The fourth floor’s cafe and common space make it one of the social hubs, while the fifth floor’s mix of collaboration rooms and (new!) booths make it a great space for groups to work on projects or study together. The sixth floor splits itself between two classrooms that are frequently utilized for courses and seminars and the various study carrels that allow for quiet work. Finally, the seventh floor and its large number of group study rooms often see folks camped out before exams.
With all this in mind, it’s no surprise that the seventh floor continues to be our most popular, responsible for 46% of library traffic; there were over 850 people counted there during our survey period. The next most popular floor was the fifth, which is consistent with previous years, but the volume that we saw there has definitely increased since the addition of the new booths installed over the winter break. Patrons there amounted to 24% of the total surveyed population, at just over 450 people. From there, we see the sixth floor as the next most popular with 304 patrons (thank you classrooms!) and finally, the fourth floor finishing the tally with 258.
If we break it down program-by-program and look at the floors, we can see the preference for the seventh floor across our top three affiliation groups, but MPH mixes it up by skewing hard towards the sixth floor (65% of their headcount is seen on that floor). Other groups we can see preferring floors other than the seventh are TMC staff, who spend time predominantly on the fourth floor (also 65% of their headcount) and Other Affiliates, who were found largely on the sixth floor. The two classrooms there are a great resource for groups looking to utilize the space in ways beyond simply studying solo or in small groups.
What day of the week is the busiest?
While it might be an easy guess that the weekdays are the busiest time here at HHSL, it might be trickier to determine which weekday is the busiest. This time around, it looks like Tuesday is the winner, coming in with a surveyed population of 470 patrons. Following it up in a remarkable tie are Wednesday and Thursday which each tallied 391 patrons! After that comes Monday, with 324, and from there, we’re into the weekend. Friday’s count showed 122, just a smidge more than Saturday’s 119. Finally, it seems that the Sunday Scaries are happening at home or on the Common, as our tallied patrons came to 58.
What time of day is the most popular?
If you’ve ever been in the library in the middle of the afternoon, you know that it’s a busy time for us. You can see here that we counted 732 patrons during that time, or just under 40% of the total patrons in the library at any time. 11am is the next most populous time, at 602 patrons counted (32%). From there, we see 377 at 6pm, and finally 164 at 9pm.
Let’s look a little deeper and see what insights there are for hourly preferences program to program. While 3pm might be the most universally popular, TMC staff and Other Affiliates both are in the library more during the 11am survey. The Physicians Assistants are also more often in the library at other times, with 9 students counted at 6pm versus 8 at 3pm. Dental students nearly split their time evenly between the morning and early afternoon, with 276 and 279 students counted at the 11am and 3pm counts respectively. Not all programs are represented at 9pm, almost half are not present in the library at that time, but Dental, Medical, and MBS still make a decent showing.
How have the numbers changed in years past?
Finally, we would like to leave you with this comparison of the last four years of Spring Affiliation. As you can see, we had a bit of a dip last year but are looking back towards the numbers seen in 2022 and 2023. Only time will tell what the trend will be as we continue with our semi-annual survey. Thank you again to everyone who participated! We look forward to seeing you around the library again soon.