Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2019-20 through 2021-22

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Academic Libraries
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
2019-20 to 2021-22

Changes for 2020-21 are included in the attached survey materials.
Please note that the terminology 'COVID-19' will be replaced with the terminology
'coronavirus pandemic' before the materials are released.

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2020-21
Data Collection System

IPEDS HELP DESK
(877) 225-2568 | [email protected]
OMB NO. 1850-0582 v.24 : Approval Expires 8/31/2022

2020-21 Survey Materials      Package
Academic Libraries
Overview
Academic Libraries Overview
Welcome to the IPEDS Academic Libraries (AL) survey component. The purpose of the AL component of IPEDS is to collect information on library collections, library

expenses, and library services for libraries in degree-granting postsecondary institutions.

Data Reporting Reminders

Report data to accurately reflect the time period corresponding with the IPEDS survey component, even if such reporting is seemingly inconsistent with prioryear reporting. For example, if a summer term began later than usual due COVID-19 postponements, continue to report using the timeframes as defined in
the IPEDS instructions.NCES expects that some data reported during the 2020-21 data collection year will vary from established prior trends due to the

impacts of COVID-19. If an error edit is triggered even when submitting accurate data, please indicate in the corresponding context box or verbally to the Help
Desk that the seemingly inconsistent data are accurate and reflect the effects of COVID-19.

Report all data for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Fiscal Year 2020 is defined as the most recent 12-month period that ends before October 1, 2020, that corresponds  
to the institution’s fiscal year.

Changes to reporting for 2020-21
There are no changes to this survey component.

Coverage
Include data for the main or central academic library and all branch and independent libraries that were open all or part of the Fiscal Year 2020. Branch and
independent libraries are defined as auxiliary library service outlets with quarters separate from the central library that houses the basic collection. The central
library administers the branches. Libraries on branch campuses that have separate IPEDS unit identification numbers are reported as separate libraries.

Resources:
To download the survey materials for this component: Survey Materials
Visit the Academic Libraries Resource page for additional reporting resources.
To access your prior year data submission for this component: Reported Data
For more information about the previous survey: Academic Libraries Survey

If you have questions about completing this survey, please contact the IPEDS Help Desk at 1-877-225-2568.

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Screening Questions
Were your annual total library expenses (including staff salaries and wages) for Fiscal Year 2020: 

Less than $100,000

Greater than or equal to $100,000

Is the library collection entirely electronic? 

No

Yes 

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Library Collections/Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Services
Section I: For all degree-granting institutions with library expenses >0 and/or access to a library collection
NOTE - This section of the survey collects data on selected types of material. It does not cover all materials. Report the total number of each category held at the
END of Fiscal Year 2020.

Physical
Library Collections

Digital/Electronic
Prior Year
Amount

Books

Total
Prior Year
Amount

Databases

Media

Serials

Total

Library Circulation

Does your institution have Interlibrary Loan Services ?

No 

Yes 

Interlibrary Loan Services

Number

Prior Year Amount

Total interlibrary loans and documents provided to other libraries

Total interlibrary loans and documents received

Does your institution have Library Staff?

No 

Yes 

Library Staff

Number of FTEs

Librarians

Other Professional Staff

All Other Paid Staff (Except Student Assistants)

Student Assistants

Total

You may use the box below to provide additional context for the data you have reported above. Context notes will be posted on the College Navigator website.
Therefore, you should write all context notes using proper grammar (e.g., complete sentences with punctuation) and common language that can be easily
understood by students and parents (e.g., spell out acronyms).

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Expenses
Section II: For degree-granting institutions with library expenses >= $100,000
Library expenses should be reported for the most recent 12-month period that corresponds to your institution's fiscal year that ends before October 1, 2020.

Prior Year Amount

Indicate the number of branch and independent libraries

   (exclude the main or central library).

Expenses

Amount

Total salaries and wages for the library staff

Are staff fringe benefits paid out of the library budget?

No

Yes

Total Fringe benefits

Materials/services expenses

One-time purchases of books, serial back-files, and other materials

Ongoing commitments to subscriptions

All other materials/services costs

Total materials/services expenses

Operations and maintenance expenses

Preservation services

All other operations and maintenance expenses

Total operations and maintenance expenses

Total Expenses

Total Expenses (minus Fringe Benefits)

You may use the space below to provide context for the data you've reported above. This context box will not be posted on the College Navigator Website.

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Prepared by
Prepared by
Reporting Reminders:
The name of the preparer is being collected so that we can follow up with the appropriate person in the event that there are questions concerning the data.
The Keyholder will be copied on all email correspondence to other preparers.
The time it took to prepare this component is being collected so that we can continue to improve our estimate of the reporting burden associated with IPEDS.
Please include in your estimate the time it took for you to review instructions, query and search data sources, complete and review the component, and
submit the data through the Data Collection System.
Thank you for your assistance.

This survey component was prepared by:

Keyholder

SFA Contact

HR Contact

Finance Contact

Academic Library Contact

Other

Name:

Email:

How many staff from your institution only were involved in the data collection and reporting process of this survey component?

Number of Staff (including yourself)

How many hours did you and others from your institution only spend on each of the steps below when responding to this survey component?
Exclude the hours spent collecting data for state and other reporting purposes.
Collecting Data Needed

Revising Data to Match
IPEDS Requirements

Staff member

Your office

hours

hours

Other offices

hours

hours

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Entering Data

Revising and Locking Data

hours

hours

hours

hours

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Academic Libraries
Purpose of Component
Changes in Reporting for 2020-21
General Instructions
Reporting Period Covered
Context boxes

Coverage
Where to Get Help for Reporting
Where the Data Will Appear
Detailed Instructions
Section I: for degree granting institutions with library expenses >0 and/or degree granting institutions with access to a library collection
Section II: for degree granting institutions with library expenses >$100,000

Purpose of Component
The purpose of the Academic Libraries (AL) component of IPEDS is to collect information on library collections, expenses, and services for degree-granting
postsecondary institutions.

Changes In Reporting
There are no changes to the 2020-21 Academic Libraries component from the 2019-20 collection. Visit the Academic Libraries Resource page for additional
reporting resources.
For 2020-21 changes, please review the preview screens available on the Survey Materials page.

General Instructions
Please respond to each item in this survey. If the appropriate answer for an item is zero or none, or if a material is provided and counts are not measurable, use
"0." If a material is not provided or not applicable, leave the item blank.

Reporting Period Covered
Report all data for fiscal year (FY) 2020. Fiscal year 2020 is defined as the most recent 12-month period that ends before October 1, 2020, that corresponds to
the institution’s fiscal year.

Context Boxes
Context boxes are provided to allow institutions to provide more information regarding survey component items. Note that some context boxes are posted on
the College Navigator Website, which is the college search tool offered by NCES. NCES will review entries in these context boxes for applicability and
appropriateness before posting them on the College Navigator Website; institutions should check grammar and spelling of their entries.

Coverage
Include data for the main or central academic library and all branch and independent libraries that were open all or part of the fiscal year 2020. Branch and
independent libraries are defined as auxiliary library service outlets with quarters separate from the central library that houses the basic collection. The central
library administers the branches. Libraries on branch campuses that have separate IPEDS unit identification numbers are reported as separate libraries.

Where to Get Help with Reporting
IPEDS Help Desk
Phone: (877) 225-2568
E-mail: [email protected]

Web Tutorials
You can consult the IPEDS Website's Trainings & Outreach page which contains several tutorials on IPEDS data collection, a self-paced overview of IPEDS tools,
and other valuable resources.

IPEDS Resource Page
The IPEDS Website's Reporting Tools page contains frequently asked questions, a link to data tip sheets, tutorials, taxonomies, information centers (e.g.,
academic libraries, average net price, human resources, race/ethnicity, etc.), and other valuable information.

Where the Reported Data Will Appear
Data collected through IPEDS will be accessible at the institution and aggregate levels.
At the institution-level, data will appear in the:
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College Navigator Website
IPEDS Data Center
IPEDS Data Feedback Reports
College Affordability and Transparency Center Website
At the aggregate-level, data will appear in:
IPEDS Data Explorer
IPEDS Data Feedback Reports
The Digest of Education Statistics
The Condition of Education

Detailed Instructions
Screening Questions:
Before entering any data, a screening question will need to be answered. 
Were your annual total library expenses for Fiscal Year 2020: 
Indicate whether the annual total library expenses in Fiscal Year 2020 were less than $100,000 or equal to or greater than $100,000. Fiscal Year 2020 is defined as the most recent 12month period that ends before October 1, 2020, that corresponds to the institution's fiscal year. Expenses include funds expended by the library (regardless of when received) from its
regular budget and from all other sources; e.g., research grants, special projects, gifts and endowments, and fees for services. All expenses should be reported in whole dollars.
Exclude expenses for new buildings and building renovation. Include fringe benefits only IF paid from the library budget. Other library expenses that should be included are:
•Salaries and wages (from the library budget and all other sources)
•One time purchases of books, serial back-files, and other materials
•Ongoing commitments to subscriptions
•Other materials/service costs
•Preservation services
•All other operations and maintenance expenses
If annual total library expenses are less than $100,000, the institution will submit Section I of the AL component. If annual total library expenses are equal to or greater than $100,000,
the institution will report Section I and additional expenses and interlibrary services information in Section II of the AL component. 
Is the library collection entirely electronic?
Select "Yes" if your library collection is comprised entirely of digital/electronic items. Select "No" if your library collection is comprised of both physical and digital/electronic items. 

Section I: For all degree-granting institutions with library expenses > $0 and/or access to a library collection
NOTE - This section of the survey collects data on selected types of material. It does not cover all materials. Report the total number of each category held at
the END OF Fiscal Year 2020.
Count only those materials that are considered part of your collection. Collections comprise of documents held locally and remote resources for which
permanent or temporary access rights have been acquired. Access rights may be acquired by the library itself, by a consortium and/or through external
funding. Acquisition is to be understood as securing access rights and including it in the library catalog, other library databases or discovery systems.
Interlibrary lending and document delivery are excluded from the collection. Include government documents that are cataloged and/or searchable through the
library catalog or discovery system.

Library Collections/Circulation
Physical Books (include government documents) - Report physical book titles owned or leased by the library if individual titles are cataloged and/or
searchable through the library catalog or discovery system. Exclude serials, microforms, maps, nonprint materials, and uncataloged items. Include music
scores if searchable by title through the library catalog or discovery system. Include government documents that are accessible through the library's
catalogs regardless of whether they are separately classified and/or shelved. "Cataloged" includes documents for which records are provided by the library
or downloaded from other sources into the library catalog or discovery system.
Physical Media – Report the number of titles of media materials. Include microforms, audiovisual materials, cartographic, and graphic materials and threedimensional artifacts realia.
Physical Serials – Report the number of physical serial titles that are accessible through the library's catalog or discovery system. A serial is a publication
in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes,
in any physical format, periodicals, serial titles on microform, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings,
transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series. Report serial titles, not subscriptions. If possible, report the count of only those deduplicated or otherwise unique serial titles searchable through the library's catalog or discovery system. If possible, do not include earlier title changes;
however, do not worry about removing them if it is not possible/feasible.
Total Physical Collection – This line will automatically be calculated for you.
Total Physical Circulation - Report the total number of times physical items are checked out from the general and reserve collections. Include only initial
checkouts (circulation), not renewals. Exclude interlibrary loan lending and borrowing. Include transactions of books, media, and serials. Do not include
transactions of equipment or computers. However, circulation of electronic reading devices (e.g., Kindles) can be included if the device is pre-loaded with ebooks. For example, if a customer checks out a Kindle that is pre-loaded with 20 e-books, then that transaction counts as 1 physical circulation, not 20
electronic/digital circulations.
Digital/Electronic Books, (include government documents) – Report e-book titles owned or leased by the library if individual titles are cataloged
and/or searchable through the library catalog or discovery system. Examples of discovery systems can be found at
https://librarytechnology.org/discovery/. E-books are digital documents (including those digitized by the library), licensed or not, where searchable text is
prevalent, and which can be seen in analogy to a printed book (monograph). Include e-book titles in aggregated sets in which the library selected the
aggregator, even if not listed by each individual e-book title. Report the number at the administrative entity level; do not duplicate unit count for each
branch. Include government documents, locally digitized electronic books and electronic theses and dissertations. Include digital music scores if searchable
by title through the library catalog or discovery system. Include open access (OA) titles if the individual titles are searchable through the library's catalog or
discovery system. Do not count e-book titles from HathiTrust, Center for Research Libraries, Internet Archive, and similar collections unless the library owns
the digitized item and it is accessible under current copyright law. Do not include titles in Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) or Patron-Driven Acquisition
(PDA) collections until they have been purchased by the library.
Digital/Electronic Databases -Report the total number of licensed digital/electronic databases in your collection if there is bibliographic or discovery
access at the database level. Each database is counted individually even if access to several databases is supported through the same vendor interface.
A database is a collection of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, and texts) with a common user interface and software for
the retrieval and manipulation of the data. The data or records are usually collected with a particular intent and relate to a defined topic.
Do not include discovery systems in the count of databases. Do not include "individual releases" such as annual updates of content or the migration of the
user interface to the next vendor-release (i.e., interface version 3.0 replaces version 2.0) as separate databases.
Digital/Electronic Media - Report titles of e-media materials owned or leased by the library, if the individual titles are cataloged and/or searchable
through the library catalog or discovery system. E-media materials are media materials that are in digital format and are available for download or
streaming. For example, titles from Films on Demand or Alexander Street Press should be reported. Include digital graphic materials and cartographic
materials. Include e-media titles in aggregated sets in which the library selected the aggregator, even if not listed by each individual title. Report the
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number at the administrative entity level; do not duplicate unit count for each branch. Do not count image databases (ARTStor, AP Photo Archives) in this
category; count as databases. Do not include titles in Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) or Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) collections until they have been
purchased or leased by the library.
Digital/Electronic Serials - Report the number of e-serial titles that are accessible through the library’s catalog, discovery system or other technical
means.
An e-serial is a periodical publication issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations, is intended to be continued indefinitely, and
is published in digital form to be displayed on a computer screen in any medium. This definition includes digital and digitized periodicals, newspapers, and
annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.
If possible,
report the count of only those de-duplicated or otherwise unique e-serial titles.
include ceased electronic serial titles.
do not count earlier title changes; however, do not worry about removing them if it is not possible/feasible. A source for counting e-serials may be a
library- or vendor-developed A-Z title list of e-journals.
Include open access (OA) titles if the individual titles are searchable through the library's catalog or discovery system, except do not count e-serial titles
from HathiTrust Center for Research Libraries, Internet Archive, and similar collections unless the library owns the digitized item and it is accessible under
current copyright law.
Total Digital/Electronic Collection - This line will automatically be calculated for you.
Total Digital/Electronic Circulation or Usage – Report usage of digital/electronic titles whether viewed, downloaded, or streamed. Do not include
institutional repository documents.
Include usage for e-books and e-media titles only, even if the title was purchased as part of a database. Do not include usage of titles in Demand-Driven
Acquisition (DDA) or Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) collections until they have been purchased or leased by the library. Do not include transactions of VHS,
CDs, or DVDs, as the transactions of these materials are reported under "physical circulation.
Most vendors will provide usage statistics in COUNTER reports. As of January 2019, Release 5 became the current Code of Practice (see Project COUNTER
Release 5 Code of Practice [https://www.projectcounter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Release5_20171013-1.pdf]). Relevant COUNTER Release 5
reports for e-books are: TR_B1: Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold). As to the COUNTER 5 metric type for e-books, report “unique title requests.” For emedia, use IR_M1: Multimedia Item Requests, report metric type for “total_item_requests” is the most relevant.
If COUNTER Release 5 reports are unavailable and if COUNTER Release 4 reports are available, IPEDS suggest that libraries report counts from BR1 and
MR1. If BR1 and MR1 statistics are not available, BR2 and MR2 statistics can be used. In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER reports, libraries
may report using other means for monitoring digital/electronic circulation/usage (downloads, session views, transaction logs, etc.).
Report usage of e-serial titles whether viewed, downloaded, or streamed. Include usage for e-serial titles only, even if the title was purchased as part of a
database. Viewing a document is defined as having the full text of a digital document or electronic resource downloaded. [NISO Z39.7-2013, section 7.7] If
available, include the count for open access e-journal usage if the title is accessible through the library’s catalog or discovery system.
Libraries may need to ask vendors for e-serial usage reports; reports may not be delivered automatically or in easily- understood formats by the vendor to
the library. Most vendors will provide usage statistics in COUNTER Release 5 reports. The most relevant COUNTER Release 5 report for e-serial usage is
TR_J1: Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold). For the metric type, report “unique item requests.” If COUNTER Release 5 reports are unavailable, the most
relevant COUNTER Release 4 report is JR1 (defined as the "Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal").
Applicable COUNTER Release 5 definitions:
Article: “An item of original written work published in a journal, other serial publication, or in a book.”
Database: “A collection of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, texts) with a common user interface and software for the
retrieval and manipulation of data (NISO)”
Full-Text Article: "The complete text, including all references, figures and tables, of an article, plus links to any supplementary material published with
it.”
Open access: “Online research outputs that are free of all restrictions on access (e.g. access tolls) and free of many restrictions on use (e.g. certain
copyright and license restrictions). Open access can be applied to all forms of published research output, including peer-reviewed and non-peerreviewed academic journal articles, conference papers, theses, book chapters, and monographs.
In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER reports, libraries may report using other means for monitoring digital/ electronic circulation/usage
(downloads, session views, transaction logs, etc.), or report zero. An electronic resource management system (ERMS) and/or a usage consolidation service
may be helpful for collecting e-serial usage statistics. Do not include usage of titles in Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) or Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA)
collections until they have been purchased or leased by the library.”

Interlibrary Loan Services
Does your institution have Interlibrary Loan Services: Indicate whether your institution has interlibrary loan services.
Total interlibrary loans and documents provided to other libraries – Report the number of filled requests for material provided to other libraries.
Include all returnable and non-returnable interlibrary loans and documents. Include direct borrowing between consortium members. Do not include
transactions between the main or central library and branches, or transactions between branches.
Total interlibrary loans and documents received – Report the number of filled requests for material received from other libraries. Include all returnable
and non-returnable interlibrary loans and documents received from commercial services. Documents delivered from commercial services are all transactions
for which the library pays even if library staff is not involved in the transaction. This includes documents received by regular or express mail, by fax, or in
electronic form. Include direct borrowing between consortium members. Exclude transactions between the main or central library and branches and
transactions between branches.

Notes for Library Consortia
A library consortium is any local, statewide, regional, or interstate cooperative association of libraries that provides for the systematic and effective
coordination of the resources of schools, public, academic, and special libraries and information centers, for improving services to the clientele of such
libraries. (U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Sect. 54.500)
The purpose of library consortia can include:
Cost reduction through group purchasing
Professional development for library staff
Resource sharing (content, technology, expertise, and funding)
Networking, information sharing, mass communication
Building shared integrated library management and cataloging systems.
A library consortium can be multitype, almost any type of library can participate (e.g., public libraries). For IPEDS purposes, academic libraries that share an
administrative unit are NOT considered a consortium (see definition of branch and independent libraries). There are two cases of consortium: one in which
members share ALL library resources or one in which they share PARTIAL resources. Refer below for specific instructions in each case.

Consortium Members Sharing ALL Resources
In the case of consortia where individual library members share ALL the same library resources and library budget, a parent/child relationship for reporting
Academic Libraries data may be established if certain criteria are met. Parent/child relationships can be established for institutions if: (1) the child institution
is in the same institutional control as the parent, and (2) the child institution is not set up to report its own academic libraries expenses or collections data.
Once a parent/child relationship has been established, the parent institution will report all data for the child institution. Shared resources are to be reported
at the system level. For example, if 20,000 e-book titles were purchased by two institutions in a parent/child relationship to be shared, the parent institution
will report 20,000 e-book titles and not 40,000 e-book titles. Institutions wishing to establish a parent/child relationship must contact the Help Desk. See
the resource guide for more details on parent/child reporting.

Consortium Members Sharing PARTIAL Resources
In the case where individual library members of the consortia share PARTIAL resources and/or are set up to report their own academic library expenses or
collections data, they must do so for their individual institution. Please note the instructions below.
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Reporting digital/electronic collection
If your library is part of a consortium of independent libraries and shares a common e-service (e.g., Overdrive), then your library should report the
number of digital/electronic titles it has access to as part of its collection. For example, if your library pays a set annual fee, as part of a consortium, for
access rights to 1200 e-books that are shared across all members of the consortium, then your library should count the 1200 titles as part of its e-book
collection.

Reporting digital/electronic circulation or usage
If your library is part of a consortium of independent libraries and shares a common e-service (e.g., Overdrive), then count the number of
digital/electronic usage for your library's e-books and e-media collection only. If the usage count for only your institution is not available from the eservice provider, you may allocate the total usage based on characteristics of the institutions in the consortia (e.g., based on percentage Full Time
Equivalent students, based on percentage of consortial fees). Do not include counts from other members of the consortium.

Reporting ongoing expenses for electronic/digital materials or database purchased through a set annual consortium fee
Report them under 'All other operations and maintenance expenses'. Do not include under 'Ongoing commitments to subscriptions.'

Library Staff
Does your institution have Library Staff: Indicate whether your institution has library staff.
Report FTEs supported from the library budget. However, if known, if significant, and if specifically for library business, include FTEs funded from sources
outside of the library budget. For example, for staffing counts, you may include full counts for federal work-study students working for the library, but do
not include counts for maintenance and custodial staff. If there are significant counts included or excluded because of how budgeting/expenses are handled
at your institution, indicate in a note whether your reporting here includes or excludes them.
Computing FTEs for part-time staff: To compute FTEs for part-time employees and student assistants, take the total number of hours worked per week
by part-time employees in each category as November 1 of the fiscal year and divide it by the number of hours considered by the reporting library to be a
full-time work week (e.g., 60 hours per week of part- time work divided by 40 hours per full-time week equals 1.50 FTE). Data should be reported to two
decimal places.
Report Librarians by number of FTEs: “Librarians” are professional staff as defined by NISO: Staff members doing work that requires professional
education in the theoretical and scientific aspects of librarianship, archives, or information studies.
Report Other professional staff by number of FTEs: Other professional staff are staff performing professional level tasks who, though not librarians,
have equivalent education and training in related fields (e.g., computer sciences, business administration, education).
Report All other paid staff (except student assistants) by number of FTEs: Library staff members without formal qualification (or equivalent
combination of training and experience) in librarianship, archives, information studies or other relevant specialization, not included elsewhere.
Report Student assistants by number of FTEs: Student assistants (graduate and undergraduate), employed on an hourly basis whose wages are paid
from funds from the library budget or from an account(s) within the institution, including the Federal Work-Study Program.

Section II: For degree-granting institutions with library expenses >= $100,000
Level of library expenses that determines applicability of Section II is based on the institution's response to the screening question.

Branch and Independent Libraries
Branch and independent libraries - Report the number of branch and independent libraries at your institution that were open all or part of fiscal year
2020. EXCLUDE THE MAIN OR CENTRAL LIBRARY. Branch and independent libraries are defined as auxiliary library service outlets with quarters separate
from the central library of an institution, which have a basic collection of books and other materials, a regular staffing level, and an established schedule.
Include virtual/digital-based branch and independent libraries.
Branch and independent libraries are administered either by the central library, or as in the case of some libraries (such as law, medical, etc.), through the
administrative structure of the other units within the university. Departmental study/reading rooms are not included. Please note that data for libraries on
branch campuses (i.e., located in another community) are included if those campuses are registered under the same NCES Unit ID number as the main
campus.
NOTE- For schools in parent/child relationships, do not report the child institutions as branch libraries. However, if the child institutions have branches, the
parent institution should report the combined branch libraries for itself and child institutions.

Expenses
NOTE – Expenses should be reported for the most recent 12-month period that corresponds to your institution's fiscal year that ends before October 1,
2020. Report funds expended by the library (regardless of when received) from its regular budget and from all other sources; e.g., research grants, special
projects, gifts and endowments, and fees for services. If items in this section are not paid from the library budget but can be easily identified in other parts
of the institution's budget, report them here. The exception is fringe benefits -- report fringe benefits only IF paid from the library budget. All expenses
should be reported in whole dollars in the most appropriate category to provide an unduplicated count of expenses. Exclude expenses for new buildings and
building renovation. Include any library-related expenses that are covered by Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds in the
appropriate expense sections.
Total salaries and wages – Report salaries and wages before deductions for all full-time and part-time library staff, including student assistant wage and
Federal Work-Study students' wage, from the library budget or all other institutional sources that are identifiable.
Staff fringe benefits– If benefits are paid from the library budget, select ‘yes’ and report the amount. If benefits are not paid from the library budget,
select ‘no’ and report ‘0’ for the amount.
Total amount of fringe benefits (if paid by library budget) – If fringe benefits are paid by the library budget, report all cash contributions in the form
of supplementary or deferred compensation other than salary. Do not include the employee's contribution. Employee fringe benefits include retirement
plans, social security taxes, medical/dental plans, unemployment compensation plans, group life insurance plans, worker's compensation plans, and other
benefits in-kind with cash options. Exclude employee fringe benefits if not paid from the library budget.

Materials/Service Cost
One-time purchases of books, serial back-files, and other materials - Provide the cost of one-time purchases of books, serial back-files, and other
materials. Report expenses for published materials in all formats including archives and special collections. Include one-time acquisitions of access rights for
digital/electronic materials held locally and for remote materials for which permanent access rights have been acquired. Include expenses for database
licenses only if they are not a subscription or part of an annual consortium fee. Do not include expenses for computer software used to support library
operations or to link external networks, including the Internet. This is reported under other operations and maintenance expenses.
Ongoing commitments to subscriptions - Report expenses for ongoing commitments in all formats, including duplicates, for all outlets. This includes
serials and any other items committed to annually, as well as annual electronic platform or access fees. Serials are publications issued in successive parts,
usually at regular intervals, and, as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. Print-based serial subscriptions include periodicals, newspapers, annuals
(reports, yearbooks, etc.), memoirs, proceedings, and transactions of societies. Include the costs of electronic serials bought in aggregations and serial
packages. Include abstracting and indexing services and any database that requires an annual subscription fee. Do not include subscription fees if they are
part of an annual consortium fee. Government documents received serially are included if they are accessible through the library's catalog or discovery
system.
Other materials/service cost – Report additional materials/service costs that have not already been reported in this section. Other materials/service
costs may include:
Document delivery/interlibrary loan services. Include fees paid for photocopies, costs of facsimile transmissions, royalties and access fees paid to
provide document delivery or interlibrary loan. Include the interlibrary loan fees paid to bibliographic utilities if the interlibrary loan costs paid can be
separated out from the expenses paid to the bibliographic utility. Do not count expenses related to transactions between the main or central library and

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branches, transactions between branches, or expenses for an on-campus delivery. Include costs associated with pay-per-view journal article
transactions. Include fees expended for short-term loans as part of a Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) or Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) program.
Other expenses for information resources. Include copyright fees and fees for database searches, e.g., (DIALOG, Lexis-Nexis).
Total materials/services cost calculated – This line will automatically be calculated for you.

Operations and Maintenance Expenses
Preservation services - Report expenses associated with maintaining library and archival materials for use either in their original physical form or in some
other usable way. This includes but is not limited to binding and rebinding, materials conservation, de-acidification, lamination, and restoration. Also, include
preservation-related contracts for services (e.g., digitization). Do not include staff salaries and wages.
All other operations and maintenance expenses - Report any other maintenance expenses that have not already been reported in this section. Include:
Computer hardware and software expenses. Report expenses from the library budget for computer hardware and software used to support library
operations, whether purchased or leased, local or remote. Include the expenses for equipment used to run information service products when that
expense can be separated from the price of the product.
National, regional, and local bibliographic utilities, networks and consortia.
If interlibrary loan fees paid to bibliographic utilities cannot be separated out, include the interlibrary loan costs here with the library’s expenses of the
bibliographic utilities.
All other operating expenses. Report all other expenses from the library budget not already reported. Exclude expenses for new buildings and building
renovations. Include all expenses for furniture and equipment. Include any related maintenance costs.
Total operations and maintenance expenses - This line will automatically be calculated for you.
Total Expenses – This amount will be calculated for you. It is the sum of salaries and wages, fringe benefits, total materials/services, and total operations
and maintenance.
Total Expenses (minus Fringe Benefits) – This amount will be calculated for you. It is total expenses minus fringe benefits. If fringe benefits were not
paid out of the library budget, this line should be equal to Total Expenses.

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Glossary
date: 06/24/2020
Term

Definition

Fringe benefits

Cash contributions in the form of supplementary or deferred compensation other than salary. Excludes the employee's
contribution. Employee fringe benefits include retirement plans, social security taxes, medical/dental plans, guaranteed disability
income protection plans, tuition plans, housing plans, unemployment compensation plans, group life insurance plans, worker's
compensation plans, pension, and other benefits in-kind with cash options.

Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System
(IPEDS)

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), conducted by the NCES, began in 1986 and involves annual
institution-level data collections. All postsecondary institutions that have a Program Participation Agreement with the Office of
Postsecondary Education (OPE), U.S. Department of Education (throughout IPEDS referred to as "Title IV") are required to report
data using a web-based data collection system. IPEDS currently consists of the following components: Institutional
Characteristics (IC); 12-month Enrollment (E12);Completions (C); Admissions (ADM); Student Financial Aid (SFA); Human
Resources (HR) composed of Employees by Assigned Position, Fall Staff, and Salaries; Fall Enrollment (EF); Graduation Rates
(GR); Outcome Measures (OM); Finance (F); and Academic Libraries (AL).

Salaries and wages

Amounts paid as compensation for services to all employees - faculty, staff, part-time, full-time, regular employees, and student
employees. This includes regular or periodic payment to a person for the regular or periodic performance of work or a service
and payment to a person for more sporadic performance of work or a service (overtime, extra compensation, summer
compensation, bonuses, sick or annual leave, etc.).

Title IV institution

An institution that has a written agreement with the Secretary of Education that allows the institution to participate in any of the
Title IV federal student financial assistance programs (other than the State Student Incentive Grant (SSIG) and the National Early
Intervention Scholarship and Partnership (NEISP) programs).

Library collections

Comprise of documents held locally and remote resources for which permanent or temporary access rights have been acquired.
Access rights may be acquired by the library itself, by a consortium and/or through external funding. Acquisition is to be
understood as securing access rights and including it in the library catalog, other library databases or discovery systems.

Academic Library

An entity in a postsecondary institution that provides an organized collection of printed or other materials, or a combination
thereof; a staff trained to provide and interpret such materials as required to meet the informational, cultural, recreational, or
educational needs of the clientele; an established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the clientele; an
established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the clientele; and the physical facilities necessary to support
such a collection, staff, and schedule. This definition includes libraries that are part of learning resource centers.

Access rights

Access rights may be acquired by the library itself, by a consortium and/or through external funding. Acquisition is to be
understood as deliberately selecting a document, securing access rights and including it in the OPAC (online public access
catalog) or other databases of the library. Interlibrary lending and document delivery are excluded.

Bibliographic utilities,
networks and consortia

Services provided by national, regional, and local bibliographic utilities networks, and consortia.

Books

Books are non-serial printed publications, including music, that have hard or soft covers or are in loose-leaf format. 

Branch and independent
libraries

Auxiliary library service outlets with quarters separate from the central library that houses the basic collection. The central
library administers the branches. Libraries on branch campuses that have separate NCES identification numbers are reported as
separate libraries.

Computer hardware and
software operating expenses

These include expenses from the library budget for computer hardware and software used to support library operations, whether
purchased or leased, mainframe or microcomputer. Expenses for maintenance and the expense to run information services
when it cannot be separated from the price of the product are also included in this category.

Database

Collection of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, and texts) with a common user interface and
software for the retrieval and manipulation of the data. The data or records are usually collected with a particular intent and
relate to a defined topic. Each database is counted individually even if access to several databases is supported through the
same vendor interface.

E-books

E-books are digital documents (including those digitized by the library), licensed or not, where searchable text is prevalent, and
which can be seen in analogy to a printed book (monograph). E-books are loaned to users on portable devices (e-book readers)
or by transmitting the contents to the user's personal computer for a limited time.

Interlibrary loan services

Interlibrary loan is the process by which a library requests material from, or supplies material to, another library" where "'material'
includes books, audiovisual materials, and other returnable items as well as copies of journal articles, book chapters, excerpts,
and other non-returnable items.

Library Consortia

A library consortium is any local, statewide, regional, or interstate cooperative association of libraries that provides for the
systematic and effective coordination of the resources of schools, public, academic, and special libraries and information
centers, for improving services to the clientele of such libraries. (U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Sect. 54.500)

Media materials

Titles of all library materials that include audio visual materials, cartographic materials, graphic materials, and three-dimensional
artefacts and realia.

Non-Returnables

Materials that the library does not expect to have returned. Examples of non-returnables include photocopies or facsimiles,
fiche-to-fiche copies, print copies from microfilm, electronic full-text documents, and gratis print copies of unpublished reports
and/or departmental working papers.

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Ongoing commitments to
subscriptions

Ongoing commitments in all formats, including duplicates, for all outlets. This includes serials and any other items committed to
annually, as well as annual e-platform or access fees. Serials are publications issued in successive parts, usually at regular
intervals, and, as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. Print-based serial subscriptions include periodicals, newspapers,
annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.), memoirs, proceedings, and transactions of societies. Include the costs of electronic serials
bought in aggregations and serial packages. Include abstracting and indexing services and any database that requires an annual
subscription fee. Do not include subscription fees if they are part of an annual consortium fee. Government documents received
serially are included if they are accessible through the library's catalog.

Preservation

Activities associated with maintain library and archival materials for use in their original form or some other usable way.
Examples include rebinding, de-acidification, restoration, lamination, materials conservation and digitization.

Returnables

Materials that the library expects to have returned. Examples of returnables include books, dissertations and theses, microfilm
reels, sound recordings, and audiovisual material.

Serial back-files

Previous issues of serial titles that libraries buy back (such as back issues of magazines).

Serial subscriptions

Publications issued in successive parts, usually at regular intervals, and, as a rule, intended to be continued indefinitely. Serial
subscriptions include periodicals, newspapers, annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.), memoirs, proceedings, and transactions of
societies.

Serial titles

Titles of serials collected.

Title

Use the ANSI/NISO Z39.7-2004 definition for title as follows: The designation of a separate bibliographic whole, whether issued
in one or several parts. A book or serial title may be distinguished from other such titles by its unique International Standard
Book Number (ISBN) or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). This definition applies equally to print, electronic,
audiovisual, and other library materials. For unpublished works, the term is used to designate a manuscript collection or an
archival record series. Two subscriptions to Science magazine, for example, are counted as one title.

Library expenses

Funds expended by the library (regardless of when received) from its regular budget and from all other sources; e.g., research
grants, special projects, gifts and endowments, and fees for services.

Graphic materials

Opaque (e.g., two-dimensional) art originals and reproductions, charts, photographs or materials intended to be projected or
viewed without sound, e.g., filmstrips, transparencies, photographs, posters, pictures, radiographs, slides, and collections of
such materials. [NISO Z39.7-2013, section 4.6]  

E-media

E-media materials are media materials that are in digital format and are available for download or streaming. Include digital
graphic materials.

Microform

Microforms are photographic reproduction of textual, tabular, or graphic material reduced in size so that they can be used only
with magnification. Examples of microforms are roll microfilm, aperture cards, microfiche, ultrafiche, and reproductions on
opaque material.

Cartographic Material

Materials representing in whole or in part the earth or any celestial body at any scale (e.g., maps and charts)

Discovery system

A discovery system product consists of an interface directed toward the users of a library to find materials in its collections and
subsequently to gain access to items of interest through the appropriate mechanisms. Discovery systems tend to be
independent from the specific applications that libraries implement to manage resources, such as integrated library systems,
library services platforms, repository platforms, or electronic resource management systems. In most cases they provide access
to multiple types of materials, independently of the management platform involved. Discovery systems provide an interface with
search and retrieval capabilities, often with features such as relevancy-based ordering of search results, facets presented that
can be selected to narrow results according to specific categories, contributors, or date ranges, and tools to identify related
materials or to refine search queries. Examples of discovery systems can be found at http://librarytechnology.org/discovery/.

Serial

A serial is a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended
to be continued indefinitely. This definition includes periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals,
memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.

E-serial

An e-serial is a publication issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations, is intended to be
continued indefinitely, and is published in digital form to be displayed on a computer screen in any medium. This definition
includes digital and digitized periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs,
proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.

Audiovisual Materials

Materials that are displayed by visual projection or magnification, or through sound reproduction, or both, including sound
recordings, motion pictures and video recordings, and graphic materials. Also included in this category are special visual
materials such as three-dimensional artifacts and realia, and web-based audiovisual resources. This includes audio documents
such as records, tapes, cassettes, audio compact discs, files of digital audio recordings; visual documents such as slides,
transparencies, and combined audiovisual documents such as motion pictures, video recordings, etc. Microforms are excluded.

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Academic Libraries
Click one of the following questions to view the answer.
General
1)What is a reporting relationship and what are the different reporting relationships available for the Academic Library component?
2)How should items missing from the library’s collection be counted?
3)Why does the survey ask for title counts for reporting physical book collection(s)? Why is the survey no longer asking for volume counts?
4)What is the difference between a database and a discovery system?
5)Do we count unlicensed databases such as library-created databases?
6)What is a physical serial and how do I report physical serials in collection and circulation?
7)How do we report reserves and renewals?
8)Where are print photographs reported?
9)Are music sheets collected?
10)How are physical circulations reported?
11)Does circulation include both check-outs and check-ins?
12)In-house circulation may include items that library personnel pick up from tables and carrels and are scanned as being used. Do we include in-house use as
circulation? 
13)Our institution now has a Library and Learning Center, instead of a standalone Library, which is comprised of a library, tutoring, a writing center, and computer
labs. Should we answer for the entire facility or just the library component?
14)Where are microfiche and microforms included? How does an institution count microfilm by titles if Government Document collections are not in the library
catalog or discovery system as individual titles?
15How do you report serial titles on microform?
16)If a title is not searchable through the institution’s catalog or discovery system, but is searchable through their link resolver, is this counted in IPEDS?
17)How should direct borrowing between consortium members be included?
18)How do you upload Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) files?
1)When reporting the count of digital/electronic materials, do we count the total number available at the system level or at the branch level?
1)How do we report digital/electronic circulation if access to the material is provided for all members as part of a consortium?
2)If we are asking libraries in consortia to report their collection, but part of that collection is shared, are we overstating the collection and double counting?
3)If an institution's academic library is in a consortium with a public library, can their shared resources be included in the Academic Library survey?
1)Where should VHS, CDs and DVDs of digital/electronic books or media be counted, with "digital/electronic" or "physical"? 
2)How are purchased electronic journals counted?
3)How do we count electronic books available via e-book services such as the Ebook Library (EBL), Freading, or Overdrive?
4)How do we count media offered through online streaming services such as Films on Demand, VAST, Swank?
5)If a digital/electronic unit can be downloaded as many formats, is each format counted as a separate title?
6)For collections, do we count downloadables (e-books, e-serials, and e-media) that do not have records in our catalog but that we have access to?
7)How are electronic theses and dissertations counted?
8)Can I report open access (OA) titles as part of my collection?
9)What is a digital/electronic serial and how do I report digital/electronic serials in collection and circulation?
10)Are proceedings included as an e-book or as an e-serial?
11)Is ArtStor reported as a database or media?
1)How do we count serial or journal circulation/usage in databases?
2)Where are institutional repositories reported?
3)What are some suggestions for obtaining title counts for digital/electronic circulation?
4)What are the basic steps for obtaining COUNTER Reports for Digital/Electronic Circulation?
5)The instructions state to exclude DDA and PDA collection usage numbers until they have been purchased or leased by the library. How should an institution report
usage if DDA and PDA numbers cannot be excluded in a COUNTER report?
6)What should an institution report if they have platforms with BR1 and MR1 data, as well as, BR2 data?
7)Ebrary counts every page download as a chapter download. Should an institution report Ebrary counts in COUNTER BR2 data?
8)Should an institution include usage based collection model items (e.g., evidence-based programs) in e-book usage?
9)What Should We Do if COUNTER Release 5 Reports are Unavailable?
10)How Does COUNTER Release 5 Address Consortia?
11)How are Information Content Vendors Transitioning from COUNTER Release 4 to COUNTER Release 5?
1)Do we report personnel by their position classification or by their educational level? For example, if we have graduate-degreed librarians working in staff positions,
do we report those persons as librarians/professional staff, or as all other paid staff?
2)How do we count vacant, short-term, temporary positions?
1)Where do we report expenses for electronic journals and electronic indexing/abstracting services available on the Internet?
2)Where do we report consortial fees?
3)Should expenditures for memberships (e.g., state and national associations) be reported?
4)How does an institution report digitization expenditures?
5)Where do we report annual access fees for e-journals or e-books?

Answer:
General
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1)
What is a reporting relationship and what are the different reporting relationships available for the Academic Library component?
Reporting relationships allow one institution to report data for other institutions in IPEDS. For the Academic Libraries component, institutions can establish either a
"parent & child" relationship or a "main & branch" relationship. To determine which type of reporting relationship fits with your institution, please visit the resource
page http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/resource/download/AL_Reporting_Relationships.pdf.
2)
How should items missing from the library’s collection be counted?
Missing items are part of the collection.
3)
Why does the survey ask for title counts for reporting physical book collection(s)? Why is the survey no longer asking for volume counts?
NCES asks that you now report physical book collections by counting titles, not volumes, to ensure that the definition for physical books aligns with the definitions of
other collection counts (i.e., media, serials) collected for IPEDS.
4)
What is the difference between a database and a discovery system?

A database is a collec on of electronically stored data or unit records (facts, bibliographic data, and texts) with a common user interface and so ware for
the retrieval and manipula on of the data. The data or records are usually collected with a par cular intent and relate to a defined topic.
A discovery system consists of an interface directed toward the users of a library to find materials in its collec ons and subsequently to gain access to
items of interest through the appropriate mechanisms. Discovery systems tend to be independent from the specific applica ons that libraries implement
to manage resources, such as integrated library systems, library services pla orms, repository pla orms, or electronic resource management systems. In
most cases they provide access to mul ple types of materials, independent of the management pla orm involved. Discovery systems provide an interface
with search and retrieval capabili es, o en with features such as relevancy-based ordering of search results, facets presented that can be selected to
narrow results according to specific categories, contributors, or date ranges, and tools to iden fy related materials or to refine search queries. Examples of
discovery systems can be found at h p://librarytechnology.org/discovery/.
5)
Do we count unlicensed databases such as library-created databases?
No, only count licensed databases.
6)
What is a physical serial and how do I report physical serials in collection and circulation?
A serial is a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This
definition includes, in any physical format, periodicals, newspapers, and annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of
societies; and numbered monographic series.
In a physical serials collection, report the number of physical serial titles that are accessible through the library’s catalog or discovery system. Report serial titles, not
subscriptions. If possible, report the count of only those de-duplicated or otherwise unique serial titles searchable through the library’s catalog or discovery system.
If possible, do not include earlier title changes; however, do not worry about removing them if it is not possible/feasible.
Also, include physical serials when reporting circulation counts.

7)
How do we report reserves and renewals?

NCES asks that you report physical print reserve circula on in circula on of physical items. This way the ini al circula on count will reflect all physical-print
circula on of content whether it is part of the regular print collec on or the reserve print collec on. However, this figure will NOT include renewals or
equipment circula on counts because the prac ce of lending equipment varies considerably from library to library in terms of what the equipment
(ranging from bicycles to computer/AC cords) is, making any comparison difficult.
8)
Where are print photographs reported?
Print photographs are reported as graphic materials within physical media.
9)
Are music sheets collected?

Include physical and digital/electronic music scores if searchable by tle through the library catalog or discovery system.
10)
How are physical circulations reported?
Report the total number of times physical ITEMS (e.g., volumes) are checked out from the general and reserve collections. Include only initial checkouts (circulation),
not renewals. Exclude interlibrary loan lending and borrowing. Include transactions of books, media, and serials. Do not include transactions of equipment or
computers. However, circulation of electronic reading devices (e.g., Kindles) can be included if the device is pre-loaded with e-books. For example, if a customer
checks out a Kindle that is pre-loaded with 20 e-books, then that transaction counts as 1 physical circulation, not 20 electronic/digital circulations. 
11)
Does circulation include both check-outs and check-ins?
Circulation only includes initial check-outs, but not renewals or check-ins.

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12)
In-house circulation may include items that library personnel pick up from tables and carrels and are scanned as being used. Do we include in-house use as
circulation? 
Do not include these types of in-house circulation with circulation or interlibrary lending. 
13)
Our institution now has a Library and Learning Center, instead of a standalone Library, which is comprised of a library, tutoring, a writing center, and computer
labs. Should we answer for the entire facility or just the library component?
You should answer for the entire facility if it’s under the library’s administrative unit, reports to the head of libraries, and expenses are paid from the library’s budget.
14)
Where are microfiche and microforms included? How does an institution count microfilm by titles if Government Document collections are not in the library
catalog or discovery system as individual titles?
Microfiche TITLES ONLY, are counted in physical media; DO NOT INCLUDE microfiche pieces. Microforms titles are counted in physical media only if the titles are
searchable through the institution’s catalog and discovery system. For example, while there may be thousands of titles in ERIC that may not be searchable through
the institution's catalog or discovery system, ERIC should be counted as 1 title. Another example is the Congressional Record on Microfiche which would be counted
as 1 title.
15
How do you report serial titles on microform?
Report non-serial microform titles in physical media, and serial titles on microform under physical serials. If the library cannot determine if a microform title is a
serial or not, then report it under physical media.
16)
If a title is not searchable through the institution’s catalog or discovery system, but is searchable through their link resolver, is this counted in IPEDS?
Yes, institutions should count titles that are searchable through their link resolver even if they are not searchable through their catalog or discovery system.
17)
How should direct borrowing between consortium members be included?
Direct borrowing transactions are included in interlibrary loan services reporting.
18)
How do you upload Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) files?
Please use KVP format to upload ACRL files to IPEDS.
1)
When reporting the count of digital/electronic materials, do we count the total number available at the system level or at the branch level?
Report at the system or administrative entity level. For example, if the library system has 3 branch libraries and access to 2,038 downloadable audio units at the
system level, then it would report 2,038 and not 6,114 units.
1)
How do we report digital/electronic circulation if access to the material is provided for all members as part of a consortium?
If the circulation count for only your institution is not available from the e-service provider, report using whichever method you use locally to monitor circulation for
your library. Do not include counts from other members of the consortium. A method for estimating usage for just your institution is to use the percentage of your
institution's contribution to the total consortial fee. Another method is to use the percentage of institution's Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) student count to the
consortium total FTE student count.
2)
If we are asking libraries in consortia to report their collection, but part of that collection is shared, are we overstating the collection and double counting?
The Academic Libraries component of IPEDS was integrated from the previous Academic Libraries Survey (ALS). The ALS Advisory Committee, which was
comprised of practitioners and academics, agreed with this method for reporting collections from consortia because it is more important to get accurate total
access counts than total collection counts.
3)
If an institution's academic library is in a consortium with a public library, can their shared resources be included in the Academic Library survey?
A library consortium can be multitype, almost any type of library can participate (e.g., public libraries). However, for their shared items to be included on the
Academic Library survey, the items have to be cataloged and/or searchable through the institution's library catalog or discovery system.
1)
Where should VHS, CDs and DVDs of digital/electronic books or media be counted, with "digital/electronic" or "physical"? 
VHS, CDs and DVDs of digital/electronic books or media should be counted under "physical media". 
2)
How are purchased electronic journals counted?
Electronic journals are included in the collection count, but not in the circulation count. However, expenses for electronic journal subscriptions should be reported
under "Ongoing commitments to subscriptions."
3)
How do we count electronic books available via e-book services such as the Ebook Library (EBL), Freading, or Overdrive?
Report each title owned or leased by the library if individual titles are cataloged and/or searchable through the library catalog or discovery system.
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4)
How do we count media offered through online streaming services such as Films on Demand, VAST, Swank?
Report titles of the media if it is owned or leased by the library, if the titles are cataloged and/or searchable through the library catalog or discovery system. 
5)
If a digital/electronic unit can be downloaded as many formats, is each format counted as a separate title?
Count all formats as one title. For example, count an e-book title that is available via epub, PDF, or Kindle formats as one title.
6)
For collections, do we count downloadables (e-books, e-serials, and e-media) that do not have records in our catalog but that we have access to?
Count only downloadables to which you have access and that are in your library’s catalog or discovery system.
7)
How are electronic theses and dissertations counted?
Theses and dissertations in electronic format can be included under "digital/electronic books", providing they are part of the library's collection (see definition of
collection). Report the titles.
8)
Can I report open access (OA) titles as part of my collection?

OA tles may be included if the individual tles are searchable through the library's catalog or discovery system. Do NOT count tles from HathiTrust,
Center for Research Libraries, Internet Archive, and similar collec ons unless the library owns the digi zed item and it is accessible under current
copyright law.
9)
What is a digital/electronic serial and how do I report digital/electronic serials in collection and circulation?
An e-serial is a periodical publication issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations, is intended to be continued indefinitely, and is
published in digital form to be displayed on a computer screen in any medium. This definition includes digital and digitized periodicals, newspapers, and annuals
(reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.
If possible,
• report the count of only those de-duplicated or otherwise unique e-serial titles.
• include ceased electronic serial titles.
• do not count earlier title changes; however, do not worry about removing them if it is not possible/feasible. A source for counting e-serials may be a library- or
vendor-developed A-Z title list of e-journals.
Include open access (OA) titles if the individual titles are searchable through the library’s catalog or discovery system, except do not count e-serial titles from
HathiTrust Center for Research Libraries, Internet Archive, and similar collections unless the library owns the digitized item and it is accessible under current
copyright law.
Report usage of e-serial titles whether viewed, downloaded, or streamed. Include usage for e-serial titles only, even if the title was purchased as part of a database.
Viewing a document is defined as having the full text of a digital document or electronic resource downloaded. [NISO Z39.7-2013, section 7.7] If available, include
the count for open access e-journal usage if the title is accessible through the library’s catalog or discovery system.
Libraries may need to ask vendors for e-serial usage reports; reports may not be delivered automatically or in easily- understood formats by the vendor to the library.
Many vendors will provide usage statistics in COUNTER Release 5 reports. The most relevant COUNTER Release 5 report for e-serial usage is TR_J1: Journal
Requests (Excluding OA_Gold). For the metric type, report “unique item requests.” If COUNTER Release 5 reports are unavailable, the most relevant COUNTER
Release 4 report is JR1 (defined as the "Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal").
In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER reports, libraries may report using other means for monitoring digital/ electronic circulation/usage (downloads,
session views, transaction logs, etc.), or report zero. An electronic resource management system (ERMS) and/or a usage consolidation service may be helpful for
collecting e-serial usage statistics.
Do not include usage of titles in Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) or Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) collections until they have been purchased or leased by the
library.

10)
Are proceedings included as an e-book or as an e-serial?
Based on the definition of serials, numbered monographic series are included in the e-serial collection count. If the proceedings are numbered, then they may be a
monographic series, which should be counted in e-serials.
However, if the proceedings have an ISBN, then it is a monograph and should be counted as an e-book. If it has both an ISBN and ISSN, and if it is an individual
volume within a series that can stand on its own (it is not dependent upon content before it or after it), then it would be counted as an e-book.

11)
Is ArtStor reported as a database or media?
ArtStor is reported as a database.
1)
How do we count serial or journal circulation/usage in databases?
IPEDS does not collect the circulation/usage of electronic journals or serials. Please do not include.

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2)
Where are institutional repositories reported?
IPEDS asks that you do NOT report data on institutional repositories in the AL survey.
3)
What are some suggestions for obtaining title counts for digital/electronic circulation?
If you have titles in your knowledge base in your link resolver integrated into your discovery tool, this can be an easy way to get title counts for the digital/electronic
collections (e-books, e-serials, and e-media) of the AL survey. If your link resolver is not complete for e-books or e-multimedia, it might be better to rely on getting the
title counts through catalog records or other means.
4)
What are the basic steps for obtaining COUNTER Reports for Digital/Electronic Circulation?
First, identify where you should collect your electronic and digital circulation data. Some options are:
• Publishers that host their own content (e.g., Elsevier on ScienceDirect; SAGE/CQ on CQ Researcher; IGI Global ebooks and journals, hosted on IGI Global’s InfoSci
platform)
• Publishers that use a third-party platform to host content (e.g., Royal Society on Highwire; Mary Ann Liebert (journals) on Atypon; Twyane’s Authors on
Cengage/Gale)
• Aggregators that license content from a wide variety of publishers and offer it through a database (e.g., Academic Search Complete on EBSCOhost; Biological
Science Database on ProQuest; Academic One File on Cengage/Gale)
Second, obtain a list of providers and identify how to obtain reports from each provider. An example of basic steps for this process is as follows:
1. Compile spreadsheet of providers.
2. Identify administrative URLs and login information needed to collect statistics.
3. Identify formats and reports to collect from COUNTER Release 5 under each provider:
   • Serials - TR_J1: Journal Requests (Excluding OA_Gold), metric type “unique_item_ requests”
   • Books - TR_B1: Book Requests (Excluding OA_Gold), metric type “unique_title_ requests.”
   • Multimedia - IR_M1: Multimedia Item Requests, report metric type for “total_item_requests”
4. Identify providers where you need to contact vendor or where statistics are unavailable.
5. Work your way through the list, recording the Reporting Period Total in your spreadsheet.
6. Provide IPEDS with one total sum of all digital/electronic Reporting Period Totals obtained through all providers.
Note: In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER reports, libraries may report using other means for monitoring digital/electronic circulation/usage
(downloads, session views, transaction logs, etc.).
Libraries may need to ask vendors for e-serial usage reports; reports may not be delivered automatically or in easily-understood formats by the vendor to the library.
Most vendors will provide usage statistics in COUNTER Release 5 reports. The most relevant COUNTER Release 5 report for e-serial usage is TR_J1: Journal
Requests (Excluding OA_Gold). For the metric type, report “unique item requests.” If COUNTER Release 5 reports are unavailable, the most relevant COUNTER
Release 4 report is JR1 (defined as the "Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal").
In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER reports, libraries may report using other means for monitoring digital/electronic circulation/usage (downloads,
session views, transaction logs, etc.), or report zero. An electronic resource management system (ERMS) and/or a usage consolidation service may be helpful for
collecting e-serial usage statistics.

5)
The instructions state to exclude DDA and PDA collection usage numbers until they have been purchased or leased by the library. How should an institution report
usage if DDA and PDA numbers cannot be excluded in a COUNTER report?
If DDA and PDA numbers cannot be excluded in the institution’s COUNTER report, then please report the COUNTER report with DDA and PDA numbers included.
However, please note this detail in the comment box available on the survey.
6)
What should an institution report if they have platforms with BR1 and MR1 data, as well as, BR2 data?
Please only report BR1 and MR1 data.
7)
Ebrary counts every page download as a chapter download. Should an institution report Ebrary counts in COUNTER BR2 data?
Include COUNTER BR2 reports with Ebrary. However, please note the inclusion of Ebrary in the comments section on the survey.
8)
Should an institution include usage based collection model items (e.g., evidence-based programs) in e-book usage?
The survey excludes DDA or PDA collections unless they have been purchased by the institution. However, if the title is purchased in an evidence-based model and it
is searchable through the catalog or discovery system, then it is counted in e-book usage.
9)
What Should We Do if COUNTER Release 5 Reports are Unavailable?
In cases where vendors do not provide COUNTER 5 reports, libraries may report using COUNTER 4 reports or by using other means for monitoring digital/electronic
circulation/usage (downloads, session views, transaction logs, etc.), or report zero. An electronic resource management system (ERMS) and/or a usage
consolidation service may be helpful for collecting e-serial usage statistics.
10)
How Does COUNTER Release 5 Address Consortia?
COUNTER Release 5 eliminates Consortium reports because their size makes creating and consuming consortium reports impractical. Until additional COUNTER
tools are created, Consortia should use SUSHI to harvest individual reports for each member.

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11)
How are Information Content Vendors Transitioning from COUNTER Release 4 to COUNTER Release 5?
- Content providers MUST be compliant by February 2019 for delivery of Release 5 reports starting with January 2019 usage.
- A content provider’s customers MUST be able to obtain Release 4-compliant reports for that content provider from the time the content provider’s Release 5
reporting service was released through to April 2019 (providing access to March 2019 usage). A content provider may provide access to Release 4 reports beyond
April 2019 at their discretion.
1)
Do we report personnel by their position classification or by their educational level? For example, if we have graduate-degreed librarians working in staff
positions, do we report those persons as librarians/professional staff, or as all other paid staff?
If a person holding a graduate degree in library and information studies is assigned to a position that is classified by the institution to be a staff position, report that
as an “other paid staff.” Similarly, for staff members who lack relevant formal training and/or education, but nonetheless occupy professional positions that require
skills, knowledge, and experience in the theoretical aspects of librarianship, archives, information studies, or another professional area, report as Librarians or Other
Professional Staff as appropriate.
2)
How do we count vacant, short-term, temporary positions?
The reporting library should use the number of positions as of November 1 of the fiscal year. Positions that are less than full time should be lumped together to total
the FTE. Do not report vacant positions that the library did not plan to fill during the fiscal year.
1)
Where do we report expenses for electronic journals and electronic indexing/abstracting services available on the Internet?
Report electronic journal and indexing/abstracting service expenses  with "Ongoing commitments to subscriptions" if they require an annual fee. If not, report
electronic journal expenses under 'One-time purchases of books, serial back-files, and other materials' and electronic indexing/abstracting services under "Other
materials/service costs"
2)
Where do we report consortial fees?
Report this amount under "All other operations and maintenance expenses". Include expenses for database licenses, serial subscription fees, and other annual
electronic platform or access fees, if they were part of an annual consortium fee. Do not report these under "Ongoing commitment to subscriptions" or "One-time
purchases" expenses. 
3)
Should expenditures for memberships (e.g., state and national associations) be reported?
Yes, include membership costs if they are part of the library budget. These types of membership costs should be included in “all other materials/service cost.”
4)
How does an institution report digitization expenditures?
Report digitization expenditures as preservation expenditures, if it is an outsourced service. Additional digitization-related expenses are either reported as
memberships or services and included in “all other materials/service cost” OR reported as computer systems/other technology-related expenditures and included in
“All other operations and maintenance expenses."
5)
Where do we report annual access fees for e-journals or e-books?
Report annual access fees under “Ongoing commitments to subscriptions.”

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