Library rankings
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) ranks McGill Library 39 out of 118 member libraries in North America. This is based on the most recent ARL Library Investment Index (2021-2022).
In the 2024 MacLean's University Rankings, released in October 2023, McGill Library ranked 1st in the percentage of its budget devoted to library collections in the medical-doctoral category, which includes 15 Canadian universities with medical schools and a wide range of doctoral programs.
Selected facts and figures
- Library collections: 9.4 million items
- Library personnel (excluding casual employees): 165 staff members
- User seating across library branches: circa 4,000 seats
- 8,000 daily average visits to the Library system-wide during weekdays in 2022-2023 (Fall & Winter terms).
- 300+ articles downloaded on average per McGill student or faculty member in 2021 via the Library’s electronic subscriptions.
- 25K participants attended 770 library lectures, workshops, and tours in 2021-2022.
- 17 open access journals currently published by the Library (June 2023).
- 51,858 theses & dissertations from McGill University available in the Library’s institutional repository, eScholarship@McGill (June 2023).
- 179,625 pages from print items in the Library’s collections were digitized in 2022, of which 54% were digitized to complete on demand requests.
- 2275 BCE clay tablet is the oldest item in the Library’s collections.
