IMLS HHI 2014 Supporting Statement Part A 2014-09-05

Approval is requested to conduct information collection for the

Heritage Health Information 2014 Survey (HHI 2014)

Section A. Justification

A.1. Necessity of the Information Collection

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. IMLS' mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. IMLS works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.

The care of collections items, such as conservation science or temperature controls, covers a wide range of professional activities across U.S. cultural heritage organizations. Because collections items are at the heart of all cultural heritage and collecting practices, IMLS will collect the Heritage Health Information 2014 Survey (HHI 2014) to measure the extent and effectiveness of preservation activities and initiatives, and to identify areas for capacity building and professional development for collections stewards.

The Heritage Health Information Survey is the only survey that focuses on collections care at the national level. It is unique in examining the state of preservation across the entire spectrum of collecting institutions, large and small, from internationally renowned art museums and research libraries to local historical societies and specialized archives.

In addition, the Heritage Health Information Survey will be the first to measure how institutions are handling the growing level of importance of digital curation/preservation. In the last decade, digital collections and digital curation have become a much larger aspect of many collections. It is necessary to understand the methods and tools that institutions are using with regards to their digital collections and preservation activities. The results from this survey will give experts, professionals and funding agencies a much better understanding at what training and funding is needed in order to protect our nation’s collections in the 21^st century.

Legislative authority

IMLS is responsible for identifying national needs for, and trends of, museum and library services funded by IMLS. IMLS must also report on the impact and effectiveness of programs conducted with funds made available by IMLS. IMLS must identify and disseminate information on the best practices of such programs.

20 U.S.C. Section 9108. Policy research, analysis, data collection, and dissemination

(a) In general

The Director shall annually conduct policy research, analysis, and data collection to extend and improve the Nation’s museum, library, and information services.

(b) Requirements

The policy research, analysis, and data collection shall be conducted in ongoing collaboration (as determined appropriate by the Director), and in consultation, with –

(1) State library administrative agencies;

(2) National, State, and regional library and museum organizations;

(3) Other relevant agencies and organizations.

(c) Objectives

The policy research, analysis, and data collection shall be used to –

(1) Identify national needs for and trends in museum, library, and information services;

(2) Measure and report on the impact and effectiveness of museum, library, and information services throughout the United States, including the impact of Federal programs authorized under this chapter;

(3) Identify best practices; and

(4) Develop plans to improve museum, library, and information services of the United States and to strengthen national, State, local, regional, and international communications and cooperative networks.  

(d) Dissemination

Each year, the Director shall widely disseminate, as appropriate to accomplish the objectives under subsection (c), the results of the policy research, analysis, and data collection carried out under this section.

As required by 20 U.S.C. §9108, IMLS is seeking to conduct an “analysis to identify national needs for and trends in museum and library services.” This analysis will be based on a web survey of collecting institutions. The survey will measure collections care practices, trends, expenditures, and needs at libraries, museums, archives, historical societies/sites, and archaeological repositories.

Prior Studies

After an extensive preliminary research effort regarding preservation of cultural holdings (Appendix A), the Heritage Health Index was conducted in 2004 by Heritage Preservation with support from IMLS to survey cultural heritage organizations about their collection care practices. There was not an OMB control number for the 2004 administration of this survey.

That study revealed that 190 million objects were in urgent need of conservation treatment with 65% of institutions reporting some damage to their collections. Additionally, that study found that 26% of institutions had no environmental controls to protect collections from damage with 80% reporting they did not have an emergency plan. Since 2004, Heritage Preservation has encouraged greater attention for emergency planning and regular assessments and training for collections care.

Study design

IMLS has commissioned Heritage Preservation to conduct the Heritage Health Information 2014 Survey (HHI 2014). On behalf of IMLS, Heritage Preservation will use a cross-sectional survey, via web/paper administration, to measure collections care practices; collection care training for staff; conservation expenditures; and assessment data about the state of collections items today. Although this survey was called the Heritage Health Index when it was first administered, IMLS has changed the name to the Heritage Health Information 2014: A National Collections Care Survey. In doing so, we will retain the acronym (HHI) from the original study to help with recognition in the field, while also providing a more appropriate and accurate label for the study.

In order to study the current state of collections, IMLS and Heritage Preservation have compiled directory listings of collecting institutions and identified over 38,000 institutions in the universe. The sampling plan for HHI 2014 will include selective sampling and a stratified random sample, as described below. The HHI 2014 Survey will include contacting approximately 12,000 institutions across the country resulting in approximately 5,000 institutions providing data on current collections care questions.

Topically, HHI 2014 retains many of the questions from 2004 survey. IMLS has provided a crosswalk document to identify the changes to the survey items from the prior administration (Appendix B).

On behalf of IMLS, Heritage Preservation will group the sample by size using size criteria drawn from several sources to sort all large institutions into Group 1, most medium sized institutions into Group 2, and all remaining institutions into Group 3 (See Appendix C). Size can vary by type, and so IMLS and Heritage Preservation constructed a detailed breakdown of size categories based on number of collections items, annual budgets, and size of population served. In cases of museums where the size of the collection was not known, the number of staff was used to determine size. The sample is then grouped according to the standards for large, medium, and small in each type. In addition to size, significance of the collections items was also considered. In 441 cases the institution has a medium-sized collection, but does not have particularly rare items, so these institutions have been placed in Group 3.

Group 1 has 486 institutions that have the highest number of objects and/or staff, which also generally associates to the significance of the collections. This group includes all state libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies, so as to include the primary cultural heritage collections from each state and region, as well as major federal collections institutions, such as the Library of Congress, all units of the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Smithsonian Institution. This group also includes all art museum members of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) which includes large art museums such as The Getty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Chicago Art Institute, as well as members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) at large universities, such as Harvard Library and University of Virginia Library. Group 2 includes 900 institutions with mid-sized collections including all remaining academic libraries and museums that are not ARL members. The remaining institutions with medium to small collections, referred to as Group 3, will include all archives and archaeological repositories/scientific research programs based on size of collections, and a sample of public libraries, specialized libraries, historic societies, and museums. Response rates from the HHI 2004 study were used to determine the minimum anticipated response rates for the study. Additional follow-up strategies have been proposed for Group 3 to increase response rates from the prior study. Please refer to Section B.1.1 and B.1.4 for more details about the sample and design.

A.2. Purposes and Uses of the Data

The IMLS Strategic Plan (2012-2016) includes five goals. This information collection supports Goal 3: Content. From the strategic plan, “IMLS supports exemplary stewardship of museum and library collections and promotes the use of technology to facilitate discovery of knowledge and cultural heritage.”

The survey methodology is intended to capture participation from a broad range of organizations that are eligible for funding through IMLS. Because this study is not designed with the intention to determine the distribution of agency funds, at least not directly, the methodology is not aligned with that purpose. However, the information gathered will assist the agency in establishing potential areas of emphasis in funding programs and outreach activities as it continues to support the care and conservation of the nation’s collections. For example, if results find that there are gaps or deficits in the methods or nature of collections care, based on this information and further discussion in the field, the agency may decide to include attention to these gaps as a suggested topic for research in a call for proposals from the agency’s grant programs.

The information from the collection will also allow the cultural heritage sector to see where the state of collections is today, especially digital collections, which are rapidly becoming a concern. The results of this survey will enhance the learning mission of collecting institutions and create increased awareness of the importance of informing boards of directors and senior administrative staff about the state of collections at their institutions.

The conservation community values the results from the HHI 2004 study. They have used the results to identify best practices; set institutional preservation priorities; and make the case for additional resources. Staff at IMLS and the National Endowment for the Humanities have noted that grant applicants often make the case for support by citing HHI 2004 findings.

The Heritage Health Information survey is unique in examining the state of preservation across the entire spectrum of collecting institutions, large and small, from internationally renowned art museums and research libraries to local historical societies and specialized archives. It documents the number of artifacts held in public trust as well as the challenges faced in caring for America’s diverse collections.

Research Issues addressed in the HHI 2014

HHI 2014 will consist of one questionnaire administered to all respondents. The questionnaire was developed collaboratively between IMLS, Heritage Preservation, an extensive Advisory Committee, and nine working groups of collecting professionals (See Appendix D). The questionnaire represents informational needs and issues raised by IMLS and the conservation community. IMLS staff is aware of this collection and has contributed technical expertise to the development of the questions.

The survey will collect detailed information important to helping IMLS fulfill its role to provide leadership and funding for the nation’s museums and libraries. Questions that can be answered with the data collected include the following:

• Do institutions have written policies and procedures that govern collections care?

• What is the state of collections care infrastructure including, temperature controls, lighting levels, humidity levels, and storage units?

• What is the current state of collections items?

• What is the current state of digitized or born-digital collections items?

• How much do cultural heritage institutions spend on conservation and preservation care?

• What is the current state of access to collections items?

A.3. Use of Information Technology

On behalf of IMLS, Heritage Preservation will employ a proprietary survey engine mechanism developed by RMC Research Corp., which can be quickly customized to the requirements of the HHI 2014. This data collection mechanism has been developed with the Microsoft web technology stack, employing ASP.NET 4 with SQL Server 2005 as the backend data repository. The mechanism employs the industry proven jQuery javascript library and jQuery UI plugin library to provide cross-browser compatibility and help support section 508 compliance. The survey will be distributed to approximately 12,000 institutions. The overall goal is to complete approximately 5,000 surveys with cultural heritage institutions.

Burden on the respondent will be reduced by the ability for each respondent to utilize unique credentials tied to their institution to login and out of the survey portal without the threat of losing time or data. The survey engine mechanism developed by Community Logic already provides all of the field-level validation requirements of the HHI 2014. These include data type validation for numeric, date, four-digit year, currency, percent, email, and url fields. Numeric, date, and single- and multiple-choice fields provide both range validation and comparison testing against other discrete fields in any section of the form for internal consistency checks. Automatically calculated fields will be added to perform mathematic operations against any number of discrete fields in any section of the form. Individual fields can be declared as required, and the required flag can respond to customized skip logic against answers provided in other fields. The survey mechanism provides immediate feedback response to any validation errors on the client- side when a response fails an edit, and performs server-side validation checks to ensure data integrity. Customized pop-up help will be provided for any individual field, section or definition. As one measure to protect the confidentiality of the data under the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002, institution-level data transmitted from and to respondents will take place over an SSL connection.

We have compiled a document with screenshots (Appendix F). These include the branching, help screens, the use of FTE calculator, save and return functions, and data visualization message. If a user enters an invalid response, such as an out of range number, an immediate message appears.

In the case of skipped questions, there is not an immediate response, since this would prevent users from moving to the next page. However, there will be a “subway” image showing sections that are not yet complete. When the user goes to make the final submission, they will be prevented from submitting their data if there are any skipped questions. Error messages will be shown to indicate where data are needed.

From the previous study conducted in 2004, approximately 15% of the small institutions did not have Internet access. This barrier was highest for small historical societies, 41% of which did not have Internet capability. Although broadband penetration and Internet access have increased dramatically over the past 10 years, we are aware that some organizations still have challenges that would create an undue burden regarding the ability of small organizations to participate in a web-based survey. We are committed to ensuring all organizations selected in the study sample have an equal opportunity to participate, so we have adjusted the study design to accommodate institutions which do not have access to the Internet or prefer to participate offline by providing a paper survey and other non-web-based follow-up.

Because of the difficulty that can sometimes arise when communicating with smaller institutions, compared to their large- and medium-sized counterparts, we have included a pre-survey verification phone call and a print-based mail questionnaire response option for Group 3 institutions in an effort to facilitate response. Before the survey goes into the field, all sampled Group 3 institutions will be given a phone call to introduce the study and to verify contact information, including name, mailing address, and email address. We will confirm whether they have reasonable access to the Internet and whether the have a preference for a web-based or print-based questionnaire. We will provide an option for a mailed paper copy of the questionnaire with postage paid envelope to facilitate participation of small entities in the study. The script for the pre-survey verification phone call is in Appendix E. We have also developed a schedule of follow-up touches targeted to boost the response rates for Group 3 institutions. For more information on the follow-up, see Part B.1.2.

A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information collection will not duplicate any current studies. This effort will utilize some of the previous efforts from 2004, including questionnaire content and sources for sampling. However, the 2014 survey will be a new collection with a verified and updated sample.

A.5. Methods Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

For all institutions, both small and large, advanced notice as well as an estimated time period of completion will be given in order to allow time management planning.

A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

The last time a similar study was conducted was 10 years ago. With less frequent collection of similar data, cultural institutions would not be able to compare their own institution to other institutions, and thus would be hampered in determining new directions to serve their institutions and collections. Resources would be wasted on programs and services that are not useful or pertinent to their collections. The state of technology in preservation has changed dramatically since this data was last collected, making this data collection necessary to capture state-of-the-art practices and techniques, including how many institutions are innovating with new technologies. Without gathering this data, the future state of our nation’s collections may be compromised.

A.7. Special Circumstances

No special circumstances require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6.

A.8. Consultations Outside the Agency

Public comments solicited through Federal Register

IMLS published a notice in the Federal Register with a 60-day public comment period to announce this proposed information collection on December 10, 2013, Volume 78, Number 237, pages 74173 - 74174. One comment was received.

IMLS published a notice in the Federal Register on April 10, 2014 (Volume 79, Number 69, page 19930-19931), with a 30-day public comment period to announce forwarding of the information collection request to OMB for approval. No comments were received.

Consultants outside the agency

Outside professional conservation experts were consulted in order to formulate the most effective and useful questions for the survey. In addition, a survey research firm was hired. IMLS has worked with Heritage Preservation in tapping into the expertise of the field. An advisory group was formed to develop survey questions about digital functions within institutions with collection holdings. Once created, these questions were pretested with 9 digital directors. The feedback from the pretest was used to revise the questions.

A.9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents.

Institutions in the full survey will not get compensated for participating. Compensation will only be used in a follow-up survey of non-respondents. In order to ensure the validity of the results of the overall collection, specifically with the low response rate (i.e., less than 80%) that is common with survey samples, IMLS will conduct a follow-up study of non-respondents to examine the potential for bias in the overall sample. Because it is critical to get a sufficient number of non-respondents, people who have already demonstrated a reluctance to participate in the collection, a nonmonetary conservation quick reference guide (valued at $10) will be provided to respondents as a contingent incentive for the follow-up study. This incentive will be announced both in the advance letter for the non-response follow-up survey and on the web portal of the survey during the non-response fielding period. The offer of an incentive has been demonstrated effective in lifting response rate.

A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality.

IMLS will release a public use microdata file as part of the Heritage Health Information 2014 Survey project. The names of the participating institutions will be included in the file but the individual names and contacts of the person responding for the institution will not be published (Section G3-G8 of the questionnaire). There is no institutional proprietary data collected, such as salary data and no data about an individual within the institution. All information collected is at the institutional level. Respondents will be assured that information that might identify institutions specifically, including name and street address, will not be released on the public use data file; institution information on state and region will be released. Although we do not anticipate any problem with disclosure risk in the microdata file, we will conduct a review of the data for the potential of such risk.

Prior to the collection of any data, we have identified a potential for disclosure risk of personally identifiable information. The questionnaire asks for reporting of previous fiscal year operating budget (Question E2) along with the number of full time and part-time paid staff (Question G1a and G1b). If an institution has only one paid staff member, either full or part time, that individual’s salary is embedded in the operating budget figure and therefore could be generally identified. If disclosure risk is found, for this or any other variable combination, we will use methods to limit disclosure risk (per Statistical Policy Working Paper 22), such as bottom coding or targeted suppression, on the publicly-released microdata file.

A.11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

There are no sensitive questions on the HHI 2014 questionnaire. Any personally identifiable data collected (e.g., the name of the person who responded) will be kept confidential and never published.

A.12. Estimates of Hour Burden to Respondents

The Heritage Health Information will collect 4,979 surveys from participating institutions. For smaller institutions (Groups 2 and 3) with a singular collection (e.g., historic photographs, or historic household furniture) the survey can be completed in one hour. Larger institutions (Group 1) that have several types of collections items (e.g., furniture, painting, sculpture, print drawings, and watercolors) the survey can be completed in three hours. The time allotted to complete the survey includes the preparation period. For Group 1, most of the information collected in the survey will come from annual reports and centralized collections databases held in the registrar’s office or in IT. Coordination of the information across one institution will be the bulk of the three hour period.

Study participants will be encouraged to log into the website and download a PDF version of the survey, instructions, and reference guide before entering any institutional collections information. By reviewing the survey, participants are able to manage the data collection effort, such as how long it will take to gather the information and if more than one staff member is needed to complete the survey data

Estimated Total Hour Burden is 5,507 hours.

Below indicates the anticipated respondent burden by participant groups:

Institutional type	# of Respondents	Estimated time (in hrs)	Total Hr Burden
Archives (Group 1)	49	3	147
Archives (Groups 2 & 3)	193	1	193
Libraries (Group 1)	125	2	250
Libraries (Groups 2 & 3)	1,719	1	1,719
Historical societies/sites (Group 1)	27	2	54
Historical societies/sites (Groups 2 & 3)	680	1	680
Museums (Group 1)	114	3	342
Museums (Groups 2 & 3)	1,462	1	1,462
Archaeological Repositories/ Scientific Research (Group 1)	25	3	75
Archaeological Repositories/ Scientific Research (Groups 2 & 3)	585	1	585
Total Anticipated Hours			5,507

A.13. Estimates of Annualized Cost Burden to Respondents

There are no record keeping or reporting costs to the survey respondents beyond those described in section A12. Respondents will be encouraged to prepare answers prior to completing the online survey. This preparation will not incur: (a) capital and start-up costs, (b) operation, maintenance, or purchase costs from participating in the study, or (c) costs for a reporting system.

This is not an annual collection and there is no burden other than the estimate of 5,507 hours (A12).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey the annual median wages for staff at museums, libraries, archives, historical societies, and archaeological repositories/scientific collections are as follows:

Profession	Median hourly rate
Archivist	$22.96
Librarian	$27.68
Historical society professional	$25.51
Museum professional	$25.61
Archaeologist/Life scientist	$23.91
Average median rate: $24.99

The Estimated Total Cost Burden is $118,027.77 (5,507 hours burden times $24.99 average wage).

Profession	Hourly rate*	# of respondents	Estimated time (in hrs)	Total Hr Burden	Cost Burden
Archivist (Group 1)	$24.99	49	3	147	$3,673.53
Archivist (Groups 2 & 3)	$24.99	193	1	193	$4,823.07
Librarian (Group 1)	$24.99	125	2	250	$6,247.50
Librarian (Groups 2 & 3)	$24.99	1,719	1	1,719	$42,957.81
Historical society professional (Group 1)	$24.99	27	2	54	$1,349.46
Historical society professional (Groups 2 & 3)	$24.99	680	1	680	$16,993.20
Museum professional (Group 1)	$24.99	114	3	342	$8,546.58
Museum professional (Groups 2 & 3)	$24.99	1,462	1	1,462	$36,535.38
Archaeologist/Life scientist (Group 1)	$24.99	25	3	75	$1,874.25
Archaeologist/Life scientist (Groups 2 & 3)	$24.99	585	1	585	$14,619.15
Total					$137,619.93

*Based on the average of each median wage reported in the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey for staff at archives, libraries, historical societies, museums, and archaeological repositories/scientific collections.

A.14. Estimates of Annualized Cost to Federal Government

• Estimated number of completed surveys 4,979

• Total estimated cost of project $379,542

• Cost per completed survey questionnaire $76

A.15. Reason for Program Changes or Cost Adjustments

There are no changes from the OMB Form 83-I. This is a new submission.

A.16. Project Schedule

The planned data collection period is September to December 2014. IMLS plans to publish the data and a report with the results of the survey in April 2015.

	2014				2015
	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.
Sample Selection for Group 3	X
Phone Verification for Group 3	X	X
HHI 2014 Data Collection Group 1,2,3		X	X	X
Preliminary Analysis of HHI 2014				X	X
Non-Response Bias Sample Selection				X
Non-Response Bias (NRB) Study Data Collection				X	X
Analysis of HHI 2014 and NBR						X
Final Analysis and Reporting						X	X
Data Release and Report Dissemination								X

As soon as the data are available for dissemination, the dataset will be put on the IMLS website with accompanying documentation for users. The data documentation will also include a report of the methodology used in the survey, providing information on the sampling frame, the survey participation rate, the weighting procedures, and a copy of the questionnaire.

Within four months of the close of data collection, the results of the study will be released in a publication that will include figures and tables with accompanying text. The analyses will be predominantly descriptive statistics.

A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption from the requirements to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection is being requested for the HHI 2014 data collection. The OMB approval number and expiration date will be displayed on all survey instruments and data documentation.

A.18. Exceptions to the Certification

No exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions,” of OMB Form 83-I apply to the Heritage Health Information 2014 Survey.