Chief Officer letter

October 1, 2010

Dear Chief Officer:
The purpose of this letter is to request your participation in the State Library Agencies (StLA) Survey.
This data is vital to advancing library services in the United States and that is the core mission of the
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). We look forward to working with the library community
to keep this program strong.
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This annual survey is the 17 in a series of successful StLA surveys administered through a cooperative
effort with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), the U.S. Census Bureau (data collection
agent), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. IMLS is authorized to collect these data under
the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 as stated in section 210, Analysis of Impact of Museum
and Library Services.

The FY 2010 StLA Survey content is similar to last year. We expanded question 14 to a break-out of FTE
by position: ALA-MLS Librarians, Non ALA-MLS & Non MLS Librarians, and Other Professional and Non
Professional Staff. We deleted item 231 CD-ROM union catalog and item 233 Telnet gateway of question
27.

The web-based survey application has been redesigned but the functionality works similar to last year.
The survey can be accessed only by the staff person you designate as the Key Holder. The Key Holder
will be responsible for the data submission. We strongly urge you to appoint the survey respondent as
the Key Holder. Please designate the Key Holder now and e-mail the name to Dominic Beamer at
[email protected]. Also, please forward the enclosed materials and instructions to your Key
Holder as soon as possible. To ensure the timeliness of the survey, we will contact you again if your
Key Holder does not register by November 4, 2010.
Key dates on the FY 2010 StLA Survey schedule are:
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Registration/data collection begins:
John Lorenz Award due date:
Survey close-out:

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Wednesday, January 12, 2011*
Wednesday, February 16, 2011**

*All surveys submitted by this date will receive the John Lorenz Award for Timely and Accurate
Submission of StLA Data.
**This is the final survey submission date.
As in past years, the Key Holder will request your sign-off of the survey data submission to certify its
accuracy. Technical assistance for your data submission will be available from the StLA Help Desk at the
Census Bureau. If you need any additional information or have any questions, please contact Dominic
Beamer at [email protected] or 1-800-451-6235.
IMLS will provide tabulations of the final data in a report and a copy will be mailed to you as soon as it is
available. The final data file and related data products will be available on the IMLS web site at
www.imls.gov/statistics.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no person should be asked to respond to a collection
of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control
number for this information collection is 3137-0072. The time required to complete this information
collection is estimated to average 26 hours per response, including the time to review instructions, search
existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If
you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate or suggestions for improving this
form, please write directly to [email protected]. If you have comments or concerns regarding the
status of your individual submission of this form, please write directly to [email protected]. The
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved this voluntary data collection through September
30, 2010.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this very important effort.
Sincerely,

Carlos A. Manjarrez
Associate Deputy Director for Research and Statistics

Enclosure:

Key Holder Packet