See Best Practices for Decision Pages and Tags for groups
Legend: NOT STARTED IN PROGRESS STALLED DECIDED
Recommendation
Remove “ - Electronic” and “ - Physical” material format designators from resource type labels in annual statistics final reporting for ACRL/IPEDS, ARL, and UCL/UCOP to facilitate communication about and support clear understanding of systemwide annual statistics. For Detailed (All Data) reporting, retain these labels (that is, preserve the original Resource Type labels as they appear in Alma and Alma Analytics) to support data comparison by AASA-PT and campus experts. Do not remove “ - Microfiche,” “ - Microfilm,” or other similar ‘micro’ format designators. Original Resource Type labels will also be preserved in files shared with AASA-PT and campus statistics contacts during the review period, while NZ-generated and non-ILS statistics are being compiled (typically late summer/early fall).
Impact
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).
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.
During preparation for FY23/24 annual statistics, the AASA-PT revisited this decision and decided to further refine it by removing the format designators “ - Electronic” and “ - Physical” from Resource Type labels altogether from final reporting. During reporting, tables are clearly labeled with the format for which the statistics are being reported; including designators in the Resource Type labels is redundant, does not add any clarity to the reporting, and can cause confusion if format designators do not align with the format being reported (e.g., “ - Physical” materials reported in Holdings (Electronic)). This decision allows AASA-PT to balance accurate reporting of annual statistics leveraging SILS data while also facilitating easy use and clear understanding of UCL annual statistics, within the project team, at local campuses, and at UCOP.
Options Considered
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
Description | Report Resource Types with their original Alma/Analytics labels, including format designators that do not align with the reporting area | Continue “re-binning” practice from FY22/23 UCL annual statistics reporting, including in final reporting | Remove format designators from Resource Type labels for final annual reporting |
Pros | Simplifies the build for generating Network Zone statistics Supports goals of reporting UCL collections as they are represented in the SILS | Reduces confusion if there are materials with Resource Type format designators that do not align with the area in which they are being reported (materials labeled as electronic being reported as physical items are relabeled as physical, and materials labeled as physical being reported as electronic are relabeled as electronic) | Streamlines final reporting by removing unnecessary and potentially confusing detail Supports accurate reporting of UCL collections, while removing the potential for confusion around material formats |
Cons | Requires explanation of historical cataloging practices (materials labeled as electronic being reported as physical items, and materials labeled as physical being reported as electronic) | Requires maintaining documentation detailing which Resource Types are “re-binned” | Requires reporting final statistics with normalized Resource Type labels as well as initial statistics for review by campus contacts with original Alma/Analytics Resource Type labels Requires maintaining documentation detailing how Alma/Analytics Resource Types are modified for different stages of stats reporting |
Action Log
Action/Point Person | Expected Completion Date | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
AASA-PT | 07/15/2024 | Discussions about FY22/23 “re-binning” practices and challenges that arose, potential alternative approaches in FY23/24 reporting, and opportunities for further refinement in the future | Complete |
AASA-PT | 07/15/2024 | Decision about which approach to take in FY23/24 reporting (both initial reporting for campus review/verification and final reporting) | Complete |
AASA-PT | 07/24/2024 | Review and endorse final decision page | In progress |