IMLS Survey Form with Data; Instructions
Note on results: Data are for the period June 30, 2000, to June 30, 2001. The data are grouped for each question according to three library categories:
UL = University Libraries Group
LG = Land Grant Colleges and Universities
OG = Oberlin Group
Results below represent averages of those figures provided. For any single question, some institutions may have chosen not to submit data. For questions 32-37 in particular, the number of responses is quite low. Averages were calculated from the answers submitted (omitting cases where respondents did not provide data or provided only a narrative footnote).
For complex questions, such as 4a-d, which have several parts with the last representing a sum, the numbers sometimes do not add up. We report here the results that we received. Some anomalies are explained by missing or ambiguous data; others are not obviously explicable. Also please keep in mind that even one “outlier” (e.g., unusual response) in so small a sample can radically alter the outcome. This kind of distortion occurs most frequently among the data for Land Grant institutions where the sizes of libraries vary considerably and the sample is particularly small.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Please enter your data on the ARL Statistics Website (accessed via <http://lrc.lis.uiuc.edu/ARL/survey.cgi/ >) and provide a paper copy to use for data verification. Be sure to read these Instructions before beginning to input data.
Complete this form by March 1, 2002, and retain a copy of the worksheet for your records. Preservation data are not always easy to define or to record in precise categories. If you have difficulty interpreting this questionnaire or are uncertain how its data categories apply in your situation, contact Deirdre C. Stam, Project Consultant, (315) 446-5923 or 443-2598, dcstam@aol.com.
All questions assume a fiscal year ending June 30, 2001. If your library’s fiscal year is different, please use the FOOTNOTES section to explain, but fill out the questionnaire for the period July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001.
Please read all instructions carefully before you answer the questionnaire. Make sure your responses are as complete and accurate as possible. Give estimates when you must, but please do not make wild guesses. Use the FOOTNOTES section to expand upon or clarify your responses.
Please complete all entries. If your library does not perform a given function or had no activity for this function during this period, enter “0”. If your library performs a function but data are not available and estimates are not feasible, enter “1” (for unavailable). Please leave no blank spaces. For a law library and/or a medical library, include statistics from those libraries in response to this survey and note the inclusions within the FOOTNOTES section as prompted.
In a university that includes both main and branch campuses, an effort should be made to report figures for the main campus only. (The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) defines a branch institution as “a campus or site of an educational institution that is not temporary, is located in a community beyond a reasonable commuting distance from its parent institution, and offers organized programs of study, not just courses.”) If figures for libraries located at branch campuses are reported, please provide an explanation in the “Footnotes” section of the questionnaire.
A branch library is defined as an auxiliary library service outlet with quarters separate from the central library of an institution, which has a basic collection of books and other materials, a regular staffing level, and an established schedule. A branch library is administered either by the central library or (as in the case of some law and medical libraries) through the administrative structure of other units within the university. Departmental study/reading rooms are not included.
Specific Instructions
For the purposes of this survey, the elements of a “preservation program” include : conservation treatment, commercial binding, and preservation reformatting. While shelf preparation activities (e.g., plating, labeling, insertion of security devices) and stack maintenance have obvious preservation implications and may be supervised by the preservation administrator, these activities are not quantified in this survey.
Question 1. Does the library have a preservation administrator who spends at least some of his or her time managing a partial or comprehensive preservation program?
Question 2. What percentage of the preservation administrator’s total job assignment is dedicated to preservation activities? If the library has a full-time preservation administrator, general management activities (e.g., meeting attendance, committee participation) should be considered an integral part of the administrator’s responsibilities and the answer to this question recorded as 100%. In contrast, where the preservation administrator is a part-time staff member or has a dual assignment (e.g., she or he is also a serials librarian, bibliographer, or curator), the percentage of time devoted to preservation activities and preservation management should be recorded. If the library has no preservation administrator enter “0.”
Question 3. Record the job title (not the individual name) of the person to whom the preservation administrator reports (e.g., “Associate Director for Collection Development”). If the library has no preservation administrator enter “0.”
Questions 4-5. FTE (i.e., “Full-Time Equivalent”) is the numerical representation of full- and part-time work activities. A person working full time is represented by an FTE of 1.00; a person working half time by an FTE of 0.50. Five persons working half time are represented by a combined FTE of 2.50. The number of FTE staff should be determined on the basis of the length of the work week in the reporting library. Round figures to the nearest two decimal places.
Record FTE staff in filled positions or positions that are only temporarily vacant on the date that ends the library’s fiscal year. Also record staff hired for special projects, internships, and grants, but provide an explanatory note in the FOOTNOTES section indicating the FTE of such staff. The FOOTNOTES section should also be used to record such information as the number of hours worked by volunteers (this figure is not recorded in the survey itself), and the number of months that a full-time position was vacant during the year.
Report trained professional conservators and photographers (senior practitioners-not technicians) in the “professional” category whether or not they have a master’s degree in library studies.
Question 4. Only the preservation administrator and staff who report directly to him or her, or to someone supervised by him or her, should be recorded here. If the library has no preservation administrator, or if the administrator does not have direct line responsibility for staff, enter “0.”
Question 5. This figure includes staff who report to the preservation administrator, as recorded in Question 4, and staff outside the preservation unit who are involved in preservation activities. The following activities should be included regardless of the department or library to which staff report: conservation, preparation for commercial binding, all activities associated with preservation reformatting (including selection for preservation, searching, and cataloging), and service on preservation committees.
For staff members with dual assignments, record only that time devoted to preservation activities. For example, a student assistant who works 0.40 FTE and devotes half of his or her time to book repair and the rest to serials check-in would be recorded as 0.20 FTE.
Question 6-11. Report all expenditures, regardless of the source of funding (e.g., funds may come from the regular institutional budget, grants, or fees for services).
Questions 6a-6c. Record salaries for staff reported in response to Question 5, the number of staff engaged in preservation activities library-wide. Do not include fringe benefits.
Question 6d. This answer is the sum of the answers to Questions 6a through 6c. Attach any footnotes for Questions 6a-6c here, as only this figure appears in the data reports.
Question 7. “Contract expenditures” refers to expenditures for preservation services for which the library is invoiced by an outside vendor, organization, or individual (e.g., a commercial library binder, commercial microfilming service, or professional conservator in private practice).
Question 7a.
Conservation:
Refers to the remedial and protective treatment (both mechanical and chemical) of bound volumes, manuscripts, maps, posters, works of art on paper, photographic materials, magnetic tapes, and other library materials to restore them to usable condition and/or to extend their useful lives. Note that conservation involves preserving information in its original form. The reproduction of materials (e.g., the copying of information onto the same, similar, or new media) is recorded in the preservation reformatting section of this survey. Conservation also refers to the construction of protective enclosures (e.g., wrappers, jackets, boxes) for library materials. Use of archivally sound methods and materials is presumed.
Conservation encompasses a wide range of treatments, including pamphlet and paperback binding, temporary serials binding, tipping in inserts, making pockets for loose parts, slitting uncut pages, making paper repairs, removing tapes and stains, tightening hinges, replacing endpapers, rebacking, recasing, rebinding, repairing sewing structures before sending volumes out for commercial binding, and item-by-item deacidification. Treatments range from minor procedures that can be done relatively quickly by technicians to major procedures that are chemically and mechanically complex and require the skill and judgment of a conservator.
Conservation may also include item-by-item treatment of materials damaged by water, fire, and mold. Because mass freeze drying and fumigation can involve very large numbers that would mask the size and nature of the in-house conservation effort, such activities are recorded in response to Question 7e, “other contract expenditures” and explained in the FOOTNOTES section, but are not recorded in response to Questions 12-16. Exhibit preparation is recorded as conservation activity when an item is treated (e.g., a print is cleaned), but not when a temporary support (e.g., a book cradle) is constructed to display an item. In the latter case, total FTE staff suffices as a measure of effort.
Question 7b.
Commercial binding:
Refers to the binding, rebinding, and recasing performed by commercial library binderies, as described in “Library Binding,” ANSI/NISO Z39.78-2000. (Available as a free dowenload in a PDF file format from http://www.techstreet.com/cgi-bin/pdf/free/234511/Z39-78.pdf .)Commercial library binderies use oversewing machines; Smythe-type sewing machines; double-fan adhesive binding equipment; and automated rounders and backers, hydraulic presses, and spine stamping equipment, in a high-production environment.
Question 7e. Other contract expenditures might include fees paid for commercial freeze-drying, fumigating, or mass deacidification of library materials; membership fees for use of regional conservation facilities; or equipment repairs. If answers are recorded in response to Questions 22c, 23c, 24b, 25b, 26b, or 27b (number of items reformatted by digital means), record expenditures here. Use the FOOTNOTES section to note the amount and nature of major expenditures.
Question 7f. This answer is the sum of the answers to Questions 7a through 7e.
Question 8. Supplies include materials used for conservation treatment (e.g., papers, book cloths, adhesives, pamphlet binders, box board, chemicals, disposable filters for water systems); commercially available archival quality boxes, wrappers, file folders, and envelopes; paper used for preservation photocopying and digitizing; and film, chemicals, and other supplies used for preservation microfilming. Expenditures for equipment and tools costing under $100 should be recorded here. Expenditures for security labels and stamps, book pockets, call number and bar code labels, and book plates fall outside the scope of this survey and should not be recorded.
Since housing of commercially available boxes, wrappers, folders, and envelopes can involve very large numbers that would mask the size and nature of the in-house conservation effort, the use of such supplies to protect books, manuscripts, maps, microfiche, photographs, videotapes, and other library materials is recorded only here-not in response to Questions 12-16.
Question 9. Record expenditures for equipment and tools costing over $100, such as machinery (e.g., board shears, fume hoods, microfilming cameras, photocopy machines and scanners exclusively used for preservation reformatting), furniture (e.g., laboratory benches, chemical supply cabinets), and computer hardware purchased for exclusive use by a preservation department for such purposes as conservation management, bindery preparation, and bibliographic searching related to preservation reformatting. Capital expenditures for building renovations (e.g., the construction of a conservation facility) or for construction that results in improved housing of library materials (such as replacement of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems) should be recorded only in the FOOTNOTES section.
Question 10. This answer is the sum of the answers to Questions 6d, 7f, 8, and 9. (At this time it is not possible to enter online the total independently of the component figures so be certain to record “0” in response to Questions 6d, 7f, 8, and/or 9 where no funds have been expended.)
Certain preservation-related expenses are not requested in this survey (e.g., the cost of staff training, conference attendance, and other staff development activities; printed brochures and posters; purchase of reference materials). If significant, these should be noted in the FOOTNOTES section.
Question 11. Record total preservation expenditures that were funded by external agencies in the form of grants. Funds allocated from the library’s regular operating budget (including gifts, royalties, endowment income, and special funds provided to the library by its parent institution) are regarded as internal and should not be reflected here.
Questions 12-20. See definition of conservation under instructions for Question 7a above. Record the number of volumes (including pamphlets) given conservation treatment, not the total number of treatments performed. Answers to these questions should be mutually exclusive. While any given volume may receive several treatments, it should be recorded only once, as a Level 1, 2, or 3 treatment depending on the amount of time devoted to the volume. For example, when an errata sheet is tipped into a volume, three pages are repaired, and its hinges are tightened, and these procedures take a total of 25 minutes to perform, the volume should be recorded only once, as a Level 2 treatment. The repair of several pages of a volume or pamphlet should not be recorded under “unbound sheets” (Question 16), even if the volume is disbound at the time the pages are treated. Rather, treatment of the volume should be recorded once, as a Level 1, 2, or 3 book treatment, depending on the time required to perform all procedures.
When a volume receives conservation treatment and a box is made for it, however, the conservation should be recorded as a Level 1, 2, or 3 treatment, and the boxing should be recorded in response to Question 20 (number of custom-fitted protective enclosures constructed). Likewise, when two pages of a book are repaired and the book is sent to a commercial bindery, the volume should be recorded as a Level 1 conservation treatment and as a “commercial binding” (Question 21).
Because the nature of procedures and the level of in-house conservation expertise varies significantly across ARL libraries, treatments are recorded based on the length of time they require, time being a meaningful and comparable measure of effort. Use of archivally sound methods and materials is presumed.
Question 12. Report the total number of volumes, including pamphlets, that were treated – not the total number of treatments performed. If breakdowns by level of treatment are available, provide details in questions 13-15.
Question 13. Level 1 conservation treatments require 15 minutes or less to perform.
Question 14. Level 2 treatments require more than l5 minutes but less than two hours to perform.
Question 15. Level 3 conservation treatments require two hours or more to perform. Where an extraordinary number of hours is required to treat selected items, this information can be recorded in the FOOTNOTES section.
Question 16. Unbound sheets include items such as manuscripts, maps, posters, and works of art on paper. Procedures include a variety of mechanical and chemical treatments (e.g., paper repair, surface cleaning, washing, deacidifying, encapsulating, mounting, matting) that lengthen the life of the item. Use of archivally sound methods and materials is presumed. Report the total number of sheets of paper that were treated-not the total number of treatments performed.
Questions 17-18.
Mass deacidification is
a process by which books and papers are treated to neutralize acidity and to introduce an alkaline buffer. Materials are deacidified in batches, in chambers that hold several (or many) items.
Item-by-item deacidification of bound volumes and papers, performed by conservators and technicians, should be recorded in response to Questions 12-16.
Question 19. Record conservation treatment of photographic materials here, including photographs printed on paper, glass, plastics, and other materials. “Non-paper items” include materials other than bound volumes, unbound paper, and photographs. Treatment of non-paper items might include such activities as conserving globes, cleaning videotapes, and repairing motion picture film. Report activities such as remastering videotapes, copying photographs, re-recording sound, and other activities involving duplication of media in response to Questions 24-27.
Question 20. Custom-fitted enclosures are distinguished from the commercially available boxes and other enclosures identified in Question 8 as “supplies,” in that the former are custom-made to fit their contents and the latter are standard-sized enclosures available through supply catalogs. Custom-fitted enclosures include paper and polyester book jackets, paper and board wrappers, portfolios, phase boxes, double-tray boxes, and other boxes. (Polyester encapsulation of single sheets should be reported in response to Question 16-not here.) Use of archival quality methods and materials is presumed.
Question 21. See definition of commercial binding under instructions for Question 7b above. Record all volumes (including pamphlets) bound or rebound by a commercial bindery.
Questions 22-23. “Number of bound volumes/pamphlets” refers to the reformatting of volumes in their entirety (i.e., each page is copied to produce a facsimile volume in paper, on film, or in digital form). “Number of unbound pages” refers to the sum of the number of full pages copied. For a manuscript written on one side of a sheet, record one page. For a manuscript written on two sides of a sheet, record two pages. For one frame of film that captures one page, record one page. For one frame of film that captures two pages, record two pages.
Preservation photocopying refers only to items photocopied on paper that has a minimum pH of 7.5, a minimum alkaline reserve equivalent to 2% calcium carbonate based on oven-dry weight of the paper, and includes no ground wood or unbleached pulp. Images must be properly fused to the paper.
Preservation microfilming presumes adherence to relevant American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) standards as well as microfilming guidelines published by the Research Libraries Group and National Library of Canada.
For microfilming, record data only for first-generation microforms. For a monographic set of three volumes, record three volumes; for thirty volumes in a serial run record thirty volumes. Include data for projects that are undertaken cooperatively with other libraries, but not for commercial projects wherein a commercial vendor borrows library materials for filming and subsequent sale of the film. When the library serves as a commercial microfilming vendor for another institution, this filming should be reported by the library that contracts for the filming-not by the library that does the filming. Dissertations that are sent to UMI for filming should not be recorded.
Record preservation microform masters produced by copying non-archival or damaged film, or produced from digitized text. Use the FOOTNOTES section to indicate the scope and nature of such activity.
Digitizing for preservation purposes is the reproduction of bound volumes, pamphlets, unbound sheets, manuscripts, maps, posters, works of art on paper, and other paper-based materials for the purpose of:
a) Making duplicate copies that replace deteriorated originals (e.g., by digitizing texts and storing them permanently in electronic form and/or printing them on alkaline paper).
b) Making preservation master copies and thus guarding against irretrievable loss of unique originals (e.g., by making high-resolution electronic copies of photographs and storing them permanently and/or printing them.
c) Making surrogate copies that can be retrieved and distributed easily, thereby improving access to information resources without exposing original materials to excessive handling.
Do not include, for example, scanning for presentations, temporary exhibits, and e-reserves.
Record the total number of items that were digitized-not the total number of versions of these items that were created. Where a photograph is scanned and printed, and a low-resolution image mounted on the World Wide Web with images having higher resolution recorded on CD-ROM, report one photograph digitized.
Questions 24-27. Refers to the copying of all types of photographs, and non-paper media such as audio tapes, videotapes, various types of disks, and motion picture film for preservation purposes (see instructions for digitizing for preservation purposes, above). A photograph copied using a 35mm camera is an analog reproduction; a photograph copied using a digital camera is a digital reproduction. Refer to number of items copied, and not to number of copies made.
Questions 29-38. Each of these questions corresponds to a line on either the ARL Statistics or the Oberlin Group survey.
Question 29: Total Library Expenditures. Report all expenditures of funds that come to the library from the regular institutional budget, and from sources such as research grants, special projects, gifts and endowments, and fees for service. Do not report encumberances of funds that have not yet been expended. Report 100% of student wages regardless of budgetary source of funds. Include federal and local funds for work study students. Exclude expenditures for buildings, maintenance, and fringe benefits. If fringe benefits cannot be excluded, please footnote.
Question 30:
Volumes in Library. Use the ANSI/NISO Z39.7-1995 definition for volume as follows:
a single physical unit of any printed, typewritten, handwritten, mimeographed, or processed work, distinguished from other units by a separate binding, encasement, portfolio, or other clear distinction, which has been cataloged, classified, and made ready for use, and which is typically the unit used to charge circulation transactions.
Include duplicates and bound volumes of periodicals. For purposes of this questionnaire, unclassified bound serials arranged in alphabetical order are considered classified. Exclude microforms, maps, non-print materials, and uncataloged items. If any of these items cannot be excluded, please provide an explanatory footnote in the “Footnotes” section of the questionnaire.
Include government document volumes that are accessible through the library’s catalogs regardless of whether they are separately shelved. Exclude microforms, uncataloged government documents, and maps. Documents should, to the extent possible, be counted as they would if they were in bound volumes (e.g., 12 issues of an annual serial would be one or two volumes). Title and piece counts should not be considered the same as volume counts. If a volume count has not been kept, it may be estimated through sampling a representative group of title records and determining the corresponding number of volumes, then extrapolating to the rest of the collection. As an alternative, an estimate may be made using the following formulae:
52 documents pieces per foot
10 “traditional” volumes per foot
5.2 documents pieces per volume
If either formulae or sampling are used for deriving your count, please indicate in a footnote.
Question 31: Serials. Report the total number of subscriptions, not titles. Include everything received, whether by purchase, gift or some other arrangement. Include also duplicate subscriptions and, to the extent possible, all government document serials even if housed in a separate documents collection. Exclude unnumbered monographic and publishers’ series. Electronic serials acquired as part of an aggregated package (e.g., Project MUSE, Academic IDEAL) should be counted by title. 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.
Question 32: Microforms. Report the total number of physical units: reels of microfilm, microcards, and microprint and microfiche sheets. Include all government documents in microform; provide a footnote in the “Footnotes” section of the questionnaire if documents are excluded.
Question 34a: Manuscripts and archives. Include both manuscripts and archives measured in linear feet.
Question 35a: Maps (on paper). Include two-dimensional maps. Include also satellite and aerial photographs and images.
Question 35b: Graphic materials. Include the number of images on paper. Examples are prints, pictures, photographs, and postcards.
Question 36: Computer files. Include the number of pieces of computer-readable disks, tapes, CD-ROMs, and similar machine-readable files comprising data or programs that are locally held as part of the library’s collections available to library clients. Examples are U.S. Census data tapes, sample research software, locally mounted databases, and reference tools on CD-ROM, tape or disk. Exclude bibliographic records used to manage the collection (i.e., the library’s own catalog in machine-readable form), library system software.
Question 37: Circulation (excluding reserves). Count the number of initial circulations during the fiscal year from the general collection for use usually (although not always) outside the library. Do not count renewals. Include circulations to and from remote storage facilities for library users (i.e., do not include transactions reflecting transfers or stages of technical processing). Count the total number of items lent, not the number of borrowers.
Question 38: Personnel. Report the number of staff in filled positions, or positions that are only temporarily vacant. ARL defines temporarily vacant positions as positions that were vacated during the fiscal year for which ARL data were submitted, for which there is a firm intent to refill.
Include cost recovery positions and staff hired for special projects and grants, but provide an explanatory footnote indicating the number of such staff. If such staff cannot be included, provide a footnote in the “Footnotes” section of the questionnaire. To compute full-time equivalents of part-time employees and student assistants, take the total number of hours per week (or year) worked by part-time employees in each category and divide it by the number of hours considered by the reporting library to be a full-time work week (or year). Round figures to the nearest whole numbers.
Question 38a: Professional Staff.
Since the criteria for determining professional status vary among libraries, there is no attempt to define the term “professional.” Each library should report those staff members it considers professional, including, when appropriate, staff who are not librarians in the strict sense of the term, for example computer experts, systems analysts, or budget officers.
Question 38c: Student Assistants. Report the total FTE (see instruction for Question 38) of student assistants employed on an hourly basis whose wages are paid from funds under library control or from a budget other than the library’s, including federal work-study programs. Exclude maintenance and custodial staff.
Footnotes. Explanatory footnotes will be included with the statistics. Reporting libraries are urged to record in the footnote section any information that would clarify the figures submitted, e.g., the inclusion of branch campus libraries. (See the two paragraphs below for a definition of Branch Institution and Branch Library.
Definition of Branch Institution. In a college or university that includes both main and branch campuses, an effort should be made to report figures for the main campus only. (The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) defines a branch institution as “a campus or site of an educational institution that is not temporary, is located in a community beyond a reasonable commuting distance from its parent institution, and offers organized programs of study, not just courses.”) If figures for libraries located at branch campuses are reported, please provide an explanation in the “Footnotes” section of the questionnaire.
A branch library is defined as an auxiliary library service outlet with quarters separate from the central library of an institution, which has a basic collection of books and other materials, a regular staffing level, and an established schedule. A branch library is administered either by the central library or (as in the case of some law and medical libraries) through the administrative structure of other units within the university. Departmental study/reading rooms are not included.
