Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2022-23 through 2024-25

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 2022-23 through 2024-25

Academic Libraries (AL)

OMB No. 1850-0582 v.30

Submitted by:

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

February 2022

revised May 2022

Academic Libraries Package 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections

Contents

Academic Libraries Package 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections 1

Changes for 2022-23 2

Years that change across the 3 years of clearance 2

Academic Libraries Screens 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections 3

Academic Libraries Instructions 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections 6

Academic Libraries FAQs 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections 13

Changes for 2022-23

There are no changes for 2022-23.

Years that change across the 3 years of clearance

Dates change for some elements depending on the collection year. Please see the table below for information. In the materials below, variability is indicated with [green].

Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year is loaded based on data collection cycle. Collection Year 2022-23: Fiscal Year 2022 Collection Year 2023-24: Fiscal Year 2023 Collection Year 2024-25: Fiscal Year 2024
End of fiscal year	End of fiscal Year is loaded based on data collection cycle. Collection Year 2022-23: before October 1, 2022 Collection Year 2023-24: before October 1, 2023 Collection Year 2024-25: before October 1, 2024

Academic Libraries Screens 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections

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 staff, 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 prior-year reporting.

• Report all data for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Fiscal Year 2022 is defined as the most recent 12-month period that ends before October 1, 2022, that corresponds to the institution’s fiscal year.

Changes in reporting:

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 2022. 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.

• 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.

Screening Questions

Were your annual total library expenses (including staff salaries and wages) for Fiscal Year 2022:

0 Less than $100,000

0 Greater than or equal to $100,000

Is the library collection entirely electronic?

0 No

0 Yes

Library Collections/Circulation, Interlibrary Loan Services, and Library Staff

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 2022.

Library Collections	Physical		Digital/Electronic		Total
		Prior Year Amount		Prior Year Amount
Books
Databases
Media
Serials
Total

Library Circulation

Does your institution have Interlibrary Loan Services ?

0 No

0 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?

0 No

0 Yes

Library staff	Number of FTEs	Prior Year Amount
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.

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, 2022.

	Number	Prior Year Amount
Indicate the number of branch and independent libraries (exclude the main or central library).

Expenses	Amount	Prior Year Amount
Total salaries and wages for the library staff

Are staff fringe benefits paid out of the library budget?
0 No
0 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 box below to provide additional context for the data you have reported above.

Academic Libraries Instructions 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections

Purpose of Component

Changes in Reporting

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 this survey component.

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) 2022. Fiscal Year 2022 is defined as the most recent 12-month period that ends before October 1, 2022, 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 2022. 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:

• College Navigator Website

• IPEDS Use the Data portal

• 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 2022:

Indicate whether the annual total library expenses in Fiscal Year 2022 were less than $100,000 or equal to or greater than $100,000. Fiscal Year 2022 is defined as the most recent 12-month period that ends before October 1, 2022, 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 2022.

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 uncatalogued 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 three-dimensional artifacts and 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 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.

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 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.

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 include databases that only allow access to abstracts. 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 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/2019/11/Release_5_for_Providers_20191030.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 e-media, 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-peer-reviewed 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.

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 count the number of digital/electronic usage for your library only. 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 e-service 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 of 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 2022. 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, 2022. 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 Higher Education Emergency Relief Act (HEERF) grants funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act 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 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.

Academic Libraries FAQs 2022-23 through 2024-25 Data Collections

Click one of the following questions to view the answer.

General Questions

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 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.

A discovery system 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, independent 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/.

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 circulation in circulation of physical items. This way the initial circulation count will reflect all physical-print circulation of content whether it is part of the regular print collection or the reserve print collection. However, this figure will NOT include renewals or equipment circulation counts because the practice 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 title 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.

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.

Reporting Branch and Independent Libraries

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.

Reporting as a Consortium Member

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.

Reporting Digital/Electronic Collections

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. 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.

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 titles may be included if the individual titles are searchable through the library's catalog or discovery system. Do NOT count 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.

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.

Reporting Digital/Electronic Circulation

1. Where are institutional repositories reported?

IPEDS asks that you do NOT report data on institutional repositories in the AL survey.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. How are Information Content Vendors Transitioning from COUNTER Release 4 to COUNTER Release 5?

- Content providers MUST be compliant by February 2020 for delivery of Release 5 reports starting with January 2020 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 2020 (providing access to March 2020 usage). A content provider may provide access to Release 4 reports beyond April 2020 at their discretion.

Reporting Library Staff

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.

Reporting Expenses

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.”