Statistics: Title Counts

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Status	IN PROGRESS
Description	Given our shared understanding that some level of duplication of bibliographic records for the same title exists in our system, how should title counts work?
Decision summary
Owning group	AASAP Team sils-aasa-l@listserv.ucop.edu
Approver
Consulted	AASAP Team members Resource Management Group
Informed	Leadership Group
Decision-making process
Priority
Target decision date	31 Aug 2023
Date decided	[type // to add Date]

Recommendation

Impact

Stakeholder group	Impact
UC Libraries	Determinations around what and how we report are for the most part managed/owned by the UC Libraries (i.e., shared ownership).
CDL	CDL analysts, who are responsible for constructing report queries at the Network Zone according to templates agreed upon by the UC Libraries, must exclude items based a variety of parameters…

Reasoning

Background

System-wide, some duplication exists in title-level records. Cataloging rules provide guidance about when separate title-level records are required and when campuses should use the same bibliographic record to represent multiple items. However, in practice, bibliographic records are duplicated with some regularity. For example:

<describe CDL OA eBook title duplication>
<describe non-provider-neutral vendor-supplied record duplication, like those from Cassidy cataloging for resources in Westlaw and LexisNexis>
- 13,700 bibs in UCI Law Westlaw collection
- 16,650 MMS IDs for Distinct count MMS ID where the Title + Author Combined and Normalized match
- Example: separate, non-provide-neutral, non-OCLC bib records for every law review in Lexis & Westlaw
<describe OCLC record duplication of CZ non-OCLC records>

Options Considered

Alma Analytics offers the following options. ARL instructions for title counts say:

Report the total number of titles managed and maintained by the library that are cataloged and made ready for use.
Deduplicate titles by counting multiple copies of the same manifestation as one title.
Identical content in different formats should not be deduplicated, and each format should be counted as a different title. For example, a serial title available in print, microform and online would be counted as three titles.
Count different editions and versions of the same work as separate titles since they denote depth in the collection.
Counting the 245 field when the library provides stewardship for those resources may be sufficient.

Options

Notes

Option 1 -

Title Normalized

This undercounts unique titles because works with different authors and editions are not distinguished.

Option 2 -

Title Author Normalized

This undercounts unique titles because different editions are not distinguished

Option 3

MMS ID

This overcounts unique titles.

Dependencies

Questions to consider

Action Log

Action/Point Person	Expected Completion Date	Notes	Status
Gather initial feedback from RM colleagues based on prototype	17 Aug 2023
Develop proposal for decision-making as Team	21 Aug 2023