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Stakeholder group | Impact |
|---|---|
Systemwide Library Planning (SLP) / Systemwide Data Analyst (SDA) | SDA will need to maintain documentation detailing how each Alma/Analytics Resource Type is relabeled for annual stats reporting purposes. Statistics will need to be reported by original Resource Type (includes format designator) for initial statistics review, then replaced with the normalized Resource Type label (without format designator) for final reporting. SLP will maintain crosswalks showing Resource Types equivalencies (Alma/Analytics, initial NZ-generated stats reporting, and final reporting) to support understanding of the modifications and review/verification of data by campuses. |
AASA-PT | Team members will need to be able to support campus colleagues during initial data reviews to explain instances where “ - Electronic” Resource Types appear in Physical Holdings and Physical Usage reporting (e.g., DVDs and CDs cataloged as electronic resources), and instances where “ - Physical” Resource Types appear in Electronic Holdings reporting (e.g., digitized facsimiles of materials originally published in print, like older dissertations and theses). Team members will need to be able to support understanding of how removing the format designators from Resource Type labels streamlines statistics reporting (how Resource Types are combined where there are multiple resource types of different formats, e.g., “Books - Physical” and “Books - Electronic”. |
Campus statistics contacts | In the first year, campus statistics contacts may need extra support understanding instances where “ - Electronic” Resource Types appear in Physical Holdings/Physical Usage reporting and instances where “ - Physical” Resource Types appear in Electronic Holdings reporting. These are the result of local cataloging decisions and while they are not incorrect decisions, they do make the statistics confusing to understand. |
End users of UCL/UCOP annual statistics (campus library leadership, general public) | Final UCL annual statistics reports will be easier to read and understand. Detailed data will be available for users who want to dig deeper into the statistics. |
Various reporting obligations | High-level/summary statistics are not anticipated to see significant changes. AASA-PT will continue to provide lists of which Resource Types were used in calculating high-level/summary statistics to campuses for reporting purposes. Reporting obligations are UC risk management, IPEDS, ACRL (select campuses), and ARL (select campuses). |
Background & Reasoning
It is a common, though not universal, practice to catalog some physical media as electronic computer files, reflecting the digital nature of the information encoded on the physical materials (this practice resulted in these materials having Resource Types with “ - Electronic” format designators). Similarly, digitized copies of physical materials are often, though not universally, cataloged as physical, reflecting the nature of the original item that was digitized in facsimile (these materials have Resource Types with “ - Physical” format designators). There are two reasons that Alma “Resource Type” values for bibliographic records do not match the Subject Area of the material in Analytics.
“ - Physical” resource type bibliographic records can be attached to electronic records, i.e., records that show up in the E-Inventory subject area in Analytics. This can happen when materials were digitized. It can also be an artifact of migration that will be cleaned up as time is available. At Irvine, the three electronic collections with the most portfolios linked to “ - Physical” Resource Type bib records are: Marcive eBooks, Marcive journals, and UCI electronic theses and dissertations.
“ - Electronic” resource type bibliographic records can be attached to physical records, i.e., records that show up in the Physical Items subject area in Analytics. This can happen when there are tangible materials that carry electronic information, like audio CDs. It can also be an artifact of migration that will be cleaned up as time is available.
Example - Physical inventory with “ - Electronic” resource type
This audio CD is correctly catalogued. In Alma, its resource type label is {Audio nonmusical - Electronic}. However, it’s not “Electronic” in the sense of online. It’s “Electronic” in the sense of it needs electricity to work. The CDs are tangible objects that should, e.g., be insured like other tangible materials in the libraries.
The MARC record’s 008 position 23 “Form of item” value is “q” for “Direct electronic.” Alma labels the material associated with all MARC records having [LDR pos. 06 = i AND LDR pos. 7 = m AND 008 pos. 23 = o,q,s] as {Audio nonmusical - Electronic}. (See https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_%E2%80%93_General_Information/Searching_in_Alma#Rules_Used_to_Create_the_Resource_Type_Field_MARC_21_KORMARC_and_UNIMARC Position 23 code values:
“o” - Online
“q” - Direct electronic
“s” - Electronic
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In FY22/23, the AASA-PT pursued a practice of “re-binning” materials for the Network Zone-generated statistics to align their statistical categories with their real-world formats (i.e., identifying materials that are cataloged as electronic that in fact have a physical presence, such as DVDs and CDs, and identifying materials that are cataloged as physical but in fact are digital files). (For example, materials found in the eInventory Subject Area of Analytics with Alma/Analytics Resource Type label “Books - Physical” were relabeled as “Books - Electronic” to match the Subject Area and their actual status as electronic materials.) This practice was intended to create clarity in reporting by realigning the statistics for these materials with their actual formats.
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