Library Collection
This section of the survey (450-460) collects data on selected types of materials.
It does not cover all materials (i.e., microform, scores, maps, and pictures) for which expenditures are reported under Print Materials Expenditures, Electronic Materials Expenditures, and Other Material Expenditures (data elements #353, #354, and #355). Under this category report only items the library has acquired as part of the collection and catalogued, whether purchased, lease, licensed, or donated as gifts. that have been purchased, leased or licensed by the library, a consortium, the state library, a donor or other person or entity. Included items must only be accessible with a valid library card or at a physical library location; inclusion in the catalog is not required. Do not include items freely available without monetary exchange. Do not include items that are permanently retained by the patron; count only items that have a set circulation period where it is available for their use.Count electronic materials at the administrative entity level; do not duplicate numbers at each branch.
(Highlighted: new for FY2015)
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450 Print Materials
Report a single figure that includes both of the following:
1. Books in print. Books are non-serial printed publications
(including music and maps) that are bound in hard or soft
covers, or in loose-leaf format. Include non-serial
government documents. Report the number of physical
units, including duplicates. For smaller libraries, if volume
data are not available, count the number of titles. Books
packaged together as a unit (e.g., a 2-volume set) and
checked out as a unit are counted as one physical unit.
2. Serial back files in print. Serials are publications issued in
successive parts, usually at regular intervals, that are
intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials include
periodicals (magazines); newspapers; annuals (reports,
yearbooks, etc.); journals, memoirs, proceedings, and
transactions of societies; and numbered monographic
series. Government documents and reference tools are
often issued as serials. Except for the current volume, count
unbound serials as a volume when the library has at least
half of the issues in a publisher’s volume. Report the
number of physical units, including duplicates. For smaller
libraries, if volume data are not available, count the number
of titles. Serials packaged together as a unit (e.g., a 2-
volume serial monograph) and checked out as a unit are
counted as one physical unit. Deleted for FY2011 survey submission
Reason for change:
A library director pointed out that the current definition harks back to olden times when libraries bound volumes and used print copies of Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature to locate individual articles. Most libraries no longer bind periodicals and now rely on databases such as ProQuest to locate and obtain individual articles if the publisher itself does not provide past articles online. Due to space constraints, printed back issues are typically kept for just several years, circulated, and, relative to the pre-online database era, weeded quickly. The library director contends, and I agree, that it’s time wasted to count and calculate how many single issues she has and how many total more than half a subscription and then add volumes and subtract individual issues from her ILS to come up with an accurate number. “If it has a bar code, it’s a volume” and the ILS system delivers the number pronto.
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