Statistics: Sequencing finalization of UCL stats obligations

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Recommendation

The AASA-PT will finalize statistics for each reporting obligation in the order in which they are due throughout the fiscal year (July - June):

• UCL/UCOP statistics - fall

• ACRL/IPEDS - winter

• ARL - spring

The above schedule reflects the submission deadlines for each obligation. Ideally, all three sets of statistics are finalized in the fall, freeing the project team up to focus on other systemwide data analysis projects. 

If changes are made to statistics reported later in the year that impact obligations due earlier in the year, those changes will be applied to those earlier obligations in the next reporting year (e.g., a change to ARL reporting in FY23/24 will be applied to UCL/UCOP statistics beginning in FY24/25). The team will not retroactively update statistics that have already been finalized (unless it is to correct an error).

Impact

Reasoning

To better scope AASA-PT’s effort compiling and finalizing annual statistics for various reporting obligations, each obligation should be reviewed and finalized in the order in which they come due. This will help compartmentalize work in a given year and free the team up to address other systemwide data analysis priorities.

Background & dependencies

Beginning in FY22/23, the AASA-PT has compiled UC Libraries annual statistics for internal reporting as well as reporting to ACRL, IPEDS and ARL. The project team was charged with aligning reporting practices where possible and practicable; as a result, UCL/UCOP stats reporting leverages both ACRL/IPEDS and ARL reporting instructions to define various statistics that are reported. If ACRL/IPEDS or ARL updates their statistics reporting instructions, the UCL/UCOP statistics definitions are also updated to remain in alignment with the third-party reporting obligations.

The reporting periods (including distribution of reporting instructions) for the various reporting obligations are staggered, creating challenges to reconciling this dependency within a single fiscal year:

* Select UCL/UCOP statistics are shared with the UCOP Budget Analysis and Planning (BAP) office for inclusion in the annual Regents Budget Detail report, finalized in October of each year

** IPEDS is ceasing the Academic Libraries (AL) Survey after the FY2024-25 administration (reported in spring 2025, using FY2023-24 UCL stats)

To balance these competing needs (finalizing statistics in a timely manner to support external dependencies, and ensuring alignment of reporting practices across the different obligations), the AASA-PT will adopt a regular practice to 

• Finalize UCL/UCOP stats based on the previous year’s reporting requirements

• Finalize ACRL, IPEDS and ARL statistics based on the current year’s reporting requirements (as issued by each reporting agency)

• Incorporate any changes from ACRL/IPEDS and ARL reporting instructions into UCL/UCOP reporting in the next fiscal year

As a result, campuses may see slight variation in their reported statistics within a single year. For example: UCL/UCOP reporting uses ARL’s definition of ‘volume’ for local reporting. In 2025 the AASA-PT updated its interpretation of ARL’s definition of ‘volume’ to include items with resource type Atlas - Physical. This change will be reflected in 2025 ARL reporting (using FY23/24 data), but will not be reflected in the UCL/UCOP FY23/24 statistics, which were finalized prior to this decision to update the interpretation of ‘volume’; instead, the updated interpretation will be reflected in UCL/UCOP FY24/25 statistics (reported in fall 2025).

Options Considered

Questions to consider

• How will AASA-PT benefit from this change in how the project team organizes its work?

  • This change clarifies internal deadlines for finalizing statistics and creates a clear sequence for the project team’s work. 

  • This change lays the foundation for additional changes to streamline the project team’s annual statistics work and free up time for other systemwide data analysis projects.

• How will the UC Libraries benefit from this change to how AASA-PT organizes its work?

  • Review periods will be more targeted, with more tightly-scoped review requests.

• Are there risks to having statistics reporting guidelines / definitions out of alignment within a single fiscal year?

  • There is a slight risk that this will cause confusion if users are comparing statistics reported to each obligation; however, the benefits of this approach to AASA-PT outweigh the risks posed by this potential confusion.

Action Log