Letters to respondents and calendar

October 11, 2006

Dear Chief Academic Officer:
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts a biennial, voluntary survey of all
libraries serving degree-granting colleges and universities in the fifty states and the District of
Columbia. In the next few weeks, instructions for survey participation will be sent to the library
director at your institution. On-line registration and web data collection opens November 22,
2006 and web data collection closes on March 22, 2007.
The Web-based survey will be available on the NCES Web site for four months, beginning in
November. A copy of the ALS 2006 form and instructions has been posted on the NCES Web
site (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/AcaRRQuestDefs.asp) for your review. An online
analysis tool for comparing academic libraries is also available on the Academic Libraries
Survey Web page (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/academicpeer/).
The collection of salary and benefits data is an important component of this library survey.
NCES protects the confidentiality of salary and benefits data when there is a risk of disclosure of
personally identifiable data. For the purposes of this survey, when the FTEs within a staffing
category are less than or equal to two, salary and benefits data will be removed from the file.
The cooperation of your institution is important to the success of this national survey of
academic libraries. If you have questions about the Academic Libraries Survey, please contact
the Survey Director Jeffrey Williams at [email protected].
Sincerely,

Mark Schneider
Commissioner of Education Statistics

cc: Library Director

October 18, 2006

Dear Library Director:
The National Center for Education Statistics conducts a biennial, voluntary survey of all libraries
of degree-granting colleges and universities. Please designate a Key Holder to be responsible for
data entry and forward the enclosed survey information to that person as soon as possible.
Registration and data collection for the FY 2006 Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) begins
November 22, 2006, and the URL for the survey is http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/libraries/als. The
Key Holder should register as soon as possible using the enclosed registration guide, user ID,
and password. Data collection ends on March 22, 2007.
When reporting data for an institution, the Key Holder should include data for all branch and
independent libraries on the campus. Libraries on branch campuses (i.e., located in other
communities) should be included, if those campuses are registered under the same NCES UNITID number as the main campus. Your institutional research representative can provide the
UNIT-ID number for any branch campus.
NCES produces national and state tabulations of the final data in a report and also releases the
final data file online. For more information about the survey, go to the ALS home page at
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/.
Collection of library data over time will enable the nation to plan effectively for the development
and use of postsecondary education library resources. Congress uses the data to assess the need
for revisions of existing legislation concerning libraries and the allocation of Federal funds.
Federal agencies need the data to evaluate and administer library programs. State education
agencies and college librarians and administrators use the data for regional and national
comparisons of library resources. Finally, library associations and researchers use the survey
results to determine the status of library operations and the profession.
The collection of salary and benefits data is an important component of this library survey.
NCES protects the confidentiality of salary and benefits data when there is a risk of disclosure of
personally identifiable data. For the purposes of this survey, when the FTEs within a staffing
category are less than or equal to two, salary and benefits data will be removed from the file.

The survey has minor changes, based on recommendations made by the ALS Steering
Committee. A copy of the FY 2006 ALS survey, instructions, and survey changes can be found
on the ALS Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/AcaRRQuestDefs.asp.
A network of Library Representatives (LRs), one in each state, has agreed to work with NCES to
promote survey response. A list of the LRs can be found at
http://www.ala.org/ala/ors/statsaboutlib/ncesalslibrary.htm
Thank you for your cooperation and support of this survey.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Williams
Program Director, Library Statistics Program

Enclosure

October 18, 2006

Dear ALS Key Holder:
As Key Holder for the FY 2006 Academic Library Survey (ALS), you play an important role in
this voluntary national data collection effort sponsored by the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES). You are responsible for your institution’s data submission and for “locking”
the data on time. Only designated staff with assigned ALS user IDs and passwords can access
the survey system, located at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/libraries/als. Registration can begin
immediately and should be completed as soon as possible, whether or not you are ready to begin
data entry. Data collection begins on November 22, 2006 and ends on March 22, 2007.
This packet contains the following information to help you register and submit data for your
institution:
•

Registration Guide (Attachment A) – This document provides general instructions for
completion of the on-line Web registration process.

•

Key Holder Certificate (Attachment B) – This document contains your ALS user ID
number, personal password, UNIT-ID, institution name, FY 2004 respondent name, as well
as critical dates and ALS Help Desk Information. Please keep this document in a safe place,
and do not share this password with anyone.

You will register using the Key Holder Certificate, FY 2006 ALS (Attachment B). The Web
registration form asks for specific contact information, which will then be used by NCES and
Census, the data collection agent for NCES, in all further contacts with your library during this
data collection. If more than one staff person will need to enter data into the Web-based survey
form, you may request additional passwords for them. However, all further contacts will flow
through you as the ALS Key Holder, and only you can lock your data. Once your data have been
entered, edited and locked, Census will review your submission and may contact you with
questions about the data.
Report data for all branch and independent libraries on the campus and for libraries on branch
campuses (i.e., located in another community) if those campuses are registered under the same
NCES UNIT-ID number as the main campus. Your Institutional Research Office will know the
NCES UNIT-ID number of any branch campus.
The collection of salary and benefits data is an important component of this library survey.
NCES protects the confidentiality of salary and benefits data when there is a risk of disclosure of
personally identifiable data. For the purposes of this survey, when the FTEs within a staffing
category are less than or equal to two, salary and benefits data will be removed from the file.

To review survey changes from the 2004 ALS, go to the ALS Web site at
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/AcaRRQuestDefs.asp. Revisions to the survey were based
on recommendations made by the ALS Steering Committee. In addition, a network of Library
Representatives (LRs), one in each state, has agreed to work with NCES to promote survey
response. A list of the LRs can be found at
http://www.ala.org/ala/ors/statsaboutlib/2006ncesalsinformation/lrRoster06.htm
Technical assistance for your data submission will be available from the Bureau of the Census at
[email protected] or by calling (800) 523-3205. If you have questions or comments about
the survey program, you may contact Jeffrey Williams at NCES at [email protected] or
call (202) 502-7476.
Thank you for your cooperation and support of this survey.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Williams
Program Director, Libraries Statistics Program

Enclosures

ATTACHMENT A
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES SURVEY
Registration Guide
You have already found the Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) Welcome page that provides general information
about the ALS.
From the Welcome screen:
$ Click on the Login link at the top or bottom of the page to navigate to the Login page.
$ Enter the Key Holder User ID and Password that was printed on your Key Holder Certificate.
$ Click on the Login button or press the enter key to navigate to the registration site.
The Registration Site:
$ Enter the contact information on the registration screen and click the Update button. Note that several
fields are required. These are marked with two asterisks at the end of the line. Once you have
completed the update, click the Continue button to advance to the Library Director Information screen.
If more than one person will be entering data for your academic library during the survey,
$ You can request additional User IDs and passwords by clicking the Additional Users/Passwords link
under Tools.
$ Give these passwords to the people who will be using them for data entry. If you later decide you
need more User IDs and passwords, you can return to the registration screen and request more,
up to a limit of six User IDs in addition to the Key Holder.
The Library Director Information screen:
$ Enter the library director information on the screen and click the Update button. Once you have
completed the update, click the Continue button to advance to the Survey Eligibility screen.
The Survey Eligibility Screen:
$ This screen consists of four criteria questions, which are used to determine if your institution meets our
definition of a library. If defined criteria are satisfied, you will have access to complete the ALS.
$ Click on the Yes or No radio buttons as appropriate and click on the Save button. If you answered
Yes to all four questions and you have completed the update, click the Continue button to advance to
the data entry screens.
$ If you confirm your responses after answering No to any of the four eligibility questions, you will be asked
a question about providing financial support to another institution.
$ Click on the appropriate answer and click the Save button. You will again be asked to confirm your
response.
$ After answering the financial support question, your registration is complete.

ATTACHMENT B

Keyholder Certificate
FY2006 Academic Libraries Survey (ALS)
Please keep this certificate in a safe place and
do not share the password with anyone

Library Representative: Jane Doe

ALS USERID: ######
ALS Password: JDoeALS
(Note: Passwords are case sensitive)

ALS HELP DESK: [email protected]
1-800-523-3205

On-line Registration and Data Collection Period
November 13, 2006 through March 22, 2007

(http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/libraries/als)

ATTACHMENT C

Calendar for ALS 2006
Calendar for ALS 2006
Note: Throughout this calendar, all mailings to library directors or to library key holders will
also go to the library representatives (LRs).
August, 2006

E-mail message to the LRs checking to see if they will
serve again this survey cycle.

October 4, 2006

“Alert” is published in C&RL News and posted on
appropriate Web pages.

October 25, 2006

NCES sends letter to Chief Academic Officers of higher
education institutions notifying them that NCES will
conduct the Academic Libraries Survey in Fall 2006 and
providing brief detail. A copy of that letter goes to directors
of academic libraries. Snail mail is used in both cases and
the master IPEDS file of institutional addresses for 2006 is
used for address labels of approximately 4,000 institutions
of higher education (i.e., degree granting eligible for Title
IV funding). LRs receive a copy of the letter by email.
2006 ALS User’s Manuals sent to LRs by FedEx.

October 30, 2006

NCES sends letter to directors of academic libraries
describing registration process and asking each director to
appoint a “key holder” for the library data. For each library,
an enclosure with the letter specifies: User ID, password,
name of respondent from that library in 2004. Letter is sent
via snail mail using IPEDS master file described above
(see Oct. 25, 2006). A copy of the letter will be sent to the
LRs electronically.

November 13, 2006

On-line Registration and Web data collection opens.

Soon after that:

December 11, 2006

Status report available on Web. Arranged by state and by
institution’s name, the report will show codes for each of
the following steps: registered, started data entry,
completed data entry. Linked to the status report will be a
file showing for each institution that has registered: sector;
name of key holder; phone, fax, email of key holder. For
those that have not yet registered, this file will show:
sector, name & email of person who responded in 2004.
Census sends first reminder to directors of libraries who
have not registered reminding them that registration and
Web data collection began November 22. This is sent via
snail mail using the same address file as was used for the
initial letter. LRs are notified by email, for their follow-up.

December 13, 2006

Census sends first broadcast email reminder to registrants
who have not started data entry. Send copy to LRs to use
in their follow-up.

January 24, 2007

Census sends second broadcast email reminder to
registrants who have not started data entry. Send copy to
LRs to use in their follow-up.

January 24, 2007

February 22, 2007

February 22, 2007

March 14, 2007

Census sends second reminder to directors of libraries
who have not registered reminding them that registration
and Web data collection began
November 22. This is sent via snail mail using the same
address file as was used for the initial letter. LRs receive a
copy by email for their follow-up.
Census sends third electronic message to all registrants
who have not yet entered any data. Copy goes to the
library director as well as LR in respective states. LRs
encourage response.
Census sends third reminder via snail mail to nonregistrants following same procedure as for first reminder.
A copy goes to the LRs by email.
LRs check status report for non-registrants and contact
them.
Census sends last electronic message to all registrants
who have not yet entered any data. Copy goes to the
library director, and to the LRs for their final follow-up.

Data collection window closed.
March 22, 2007

Soon after that:

Status report available on Web. Arranged by state and by
institution’s name, the report will show codes for each of
the following steps: registered, started data entry,
completed data entry. Linked to the status report will be a
file showing for each institution that has registered: sector;
name of key holder; phone, fax, email of key holder. For
those that have not yet registered, this file will show:
sector, name & email of person who responded in 2004.

December 11, 2006

Census sends first reminder to directors of libraries who
have not registered reminding them that registration and
Web data collection began
November 22. This is sent via snail mail using the same
address file as was used for the initial letter. LRs are
notified by email, for their follow-up.

December 13, 2006

Census sends first broadcast email reminder to registrants
who have not started data entry. Send copy to LRs to use
in their follow-up.

January 24, 2007

Census sends second broadcast email reminder to
registrants who have not started data entry. Send copy to
LRs to use in their follow-up.

January 24, 2007

Census sends second reminder to directors of libraries
who have not registered reminding them that registration
and Web data collection began November 22. This is sent
via snail mail using the same address file as was used for
the initial letter. LRs receive a copy by email for their
follow-up.

February 22, 2007

Census sends third electronic message to all registrants
who have not yet entered any data. Copy goes to the
library director as well as LR in respective states. LRs
encourage response.

February 22, 2007

Census sends third reminder via snail mail to nonregistrants following same procedure as for first reminder.
A copy goes to the LRs by email.
LRs check status report for non-registrants and contact
them.

March 14, 2007

Census sends last electronic message to all registrants
who have not yet entered any data. Copy goes to the
library director, and to the LRs for their final follow-up.

March 22, 2007

Data collection window closed.

December, 2006

Dear ALS Key Holder:
You are registered as the Key Holder on the FY 2006 Academic Libraries Survey (ALS)
Web-based application. This letter is a reminder that the survey closeout date is March 22, 2007.
To date, your institution has not started entering data. To achieve successful survey results, we
need your institution to enter and lock data as soon as possible on the ALS Web site at
http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/libraries/als.
If you need your User ID and password or any other assistance, please contact the ALS Help
Desk at 1-800-523-3205.
I look forward to receiving your FY 2006 data submission, and I thank you in advance for your
cooperation and support with the Web-based application. If you have questions, please contact
Jeffrey Williams at [email protected] or 202-502-7476.
Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Williams
Program Director
Library Statistics Program