The Newly Revised ARL Statistics Survey · 5
The Newly Revised ARL Statistics Survey
The questions and definitions in the 2011–2012 ARL Statistics survey have been revised and modernized after an
extensive review process led by the Task Force on Reviewing the ARL Statistics, the ARL Annual Salary Survey,
and the ARL Supplementary Statistics. Members of the ARL Statistics and Assessment Committee and the task
force interviewed ARL directors during the Spring of 2011 and collected feedback that helped them articulate
the key issues, questions, and revisions for annual data collection purposes. This feedback was shared with ARL
library directors and salary survey contacts, and the final list of job categories was approved by the ARL Board
in April of 2011. As a result of this revision process, the Collections section of the ARL Statistics 2011–2012 was
shortened by eliminating the following sections: Serials, Other Library Materials, and Audiovisual Materials.
“Number of Monographic Volumes Purchased” was also eliminated. The “Titles” variable now captures a count
of all items across all formats. The “Volumes Held” variable has been retained for its historical value, and one item
capturing the number of ebooks as a subset of volumes held has been integrated into the ARL Statistics from the
ARL Supplementary Statistics survey. The Expenditures section has been revised to focus on whether expenditures
are one-time or on-going and not on type of material expenditures, and to include separate questions on fringe
benefits expenditures. A new section entitled “Use of Electronic Resources” was added to the ARL Statistics, and
this section includes questions from the ARL Supplementary Statistics that capture the number of full-text article
requests (journals) and the number of regular and federated searches in databases. The remaining items on the ARL
Supplementary Statistics were not collected in 2011–2012. The revised ARL Statistics survey also reflects updated
language on the number of degrees and degree fields (now labeled Doctor’s Degrees and Doctor’s Degree Fields),
which now include research/scholarship degrees and professional practice degrees (e.g., Ph.D, D.Ed., D.P.A., M.D.,
J.D., etc.) as enumerated in the revised instructions for the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS). Last, the subset of the main data that pertained to Special Collections expenditures
and staffing was collected on a separate survey form in response to the growing interest in sharing information
about Special Collections in a more systematic fashion. This first year of data collection for Special Collections branch
created a baseline data set that paralleled the ARL Statistics survey. The data submitted for Special Collections
and additional input from those who collect the data will help determine definitions and directions for the Special
Collections survey questions next year, and help identify additional data elements that we might collect in future
Special Collections surveys.
These revisions were implemented with the goal of making the data more useful, relevant, and easy to collect, and
are a crucial first step in the important task of keeping pace with the rapidly changing environment in research
libraries, while simultaneously codifying and reflecting the evolution of the 21st century research library in the ARL
Statistics data.
The Newly Revised ARL Statistics Survey
The questions and definitions in the 2011–2012 ARL Statistics survey have been revised and modernized after an
extensive review process led by the Task Force on Reviewing the ARL Statistics, the ARL Annual Salary Survey,
and the ARL Supplementary Statistics. Members of the ARL Statistics and Assessment Committee and the task
force interviewed ARL directors during the Spring of 2011 and collected feedback that helped them articulate
the key issues, questions, and revisions for annual data collection purposes. This feedback was shared with ARL
library directors and salary survey contacts, and the final list of job categories was approved by the ARL Board
in April of 2011. As a result of this revision process, the Collections section of the ARL Statistics 2011–2012 was
shortened by eliminating the following sections: Serials, Other Library Materials, and Audiovisual Materials.
“Number of Monographic Volumes Purchased” was also eliminated. The “Titles” variable now captures a count
of all items across all formats. The “Volumes Held” variable has been retained for its historical value, and one item
capturing the number of ebooks as a subset of volumes held has been integrated into the ARL Statistics from the
ARL Supplementary Statistics survey. The Expenditures section has been revised to focus on whether expenditures
are one-time or on-going and not on type of material expenditures, and to include separate questions on fringe
benefits expenditures. A new section entitled “Use of Electronic Resources” was added to the ARL Statistics, and
this section includes questions from the ARL Supplementary Statistics that capture the number of full-text article
requests (journals) and the number of regular and federated searches in databases. The remaining items on the ARL
Supplementary Statistics were not collected in 2011–2012. The revised ARL Statistics survey also reflects updated
language on the number of degrees and degree fields (now labeled Doctor’s Degrees and Doctor’s Degree Fields),
which now include research/scholarship degrees and professional practice degrees (e.g., Ph.D, D.Ed., D.P.A., M.D.,
J.D., etc.) as enumerated in the revised instructions for the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS). Last, the subset of the main data that pertained to Special Collections expenditures
and staffing was collected on a separate survey form in response to the growing interest in sharing information
about Special Collections in a more systematic fashion. This first year of data collection for Special Collections branch
created a baseline data set that paralleled the ARL Statistics survey. The data submitted for Special Collections
and additional input from those who collect the data will help determine definitions and directions for the Special
Collections survey questions next year, and help identify additional data elements that we might collect in future
Special Collections surveys.
These revisions were implemented with the goal of making the data more useful, relevant, and easy to collect, and
are a crucial first step in the important task of keeping pace with the rapidly changing environment in research
libraries, while simultaneously codifying and reflecting the evolution of the 21st century research library in the ARL
Statistics data.
