April 1, 2009

Question:

I’m wondering how the use of downloadable audio and video counted. Are they added into total circulation as if they were a physical item? Also, does the item have to be included in the OPAC for it to count towards circulation? There isn’t anything under total circ that would lead me to think this, but I am making an assumption.

IMLS Response:

Last week IMLS received the following question from an SDC:

“I’m wondering how the use of downloadable audio and video [are] counted. Are they added into total circulation as if they were a physical item? Also, does the item have to be included in the OPAC for it to count towards circulation?”

The answer to the question was not apparent from the data element definitions or from discussion on the wiki.  The following answer was arrived at after conferring with the Data Standards Committee of the Library Statistics Working Group:

Downloadable audio and video should be counted as a part of total circulation; there is no requirement that such items be included in the OPAC.

Thanks for your time and attention.  This question and response will be posted on the wiki as well.

Comments after IMLS Response:

Susan Vittow, WY

......Attached is part of last year's discussion on this. Also, I am looking at my FY08 WebPLUS user's guide, and under item 452 Audio, I read: "For electronic units, report only the items the library has selected as part of the collection and made accessible through the library's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).

The same line appears under 453 Video.

So yes, there does appear to be a requirement that the item appear in the OPAC, by my reading of this. That's how we reported it in Wyoming.

Edie Huffman, IN

But aren't we talking about two different things, holdings as opposed to circulation.......

Ron Winner, IL

Yes, I interpret it like Edythe.  Circ = Count (whether in OPAC or not)   Collection/Materials Count only if included in OPAC

IMLS Further Response:

As the other folks who've responded to this so far have said, the question was about circulation, not collection sizes.  The data element definitions for video and audio collections do indeed clearly state that items must be included in the OPAC to be counted as a part of collections, but there is no such requirement written into the definition of a circulated item.

Nicolle Steffen, CO

You'd want your collection count to correspond to your circulation count, i.e., you'd want to count your collection and it's circulation.

If you count circulation of non-collection items (not in the OPAC), the turnover rate is going to be all out of whack. To my mind circulation is directly tied to collection--it is the circulation of the collection the library owns.

Traditionally, items not in the collection should be counted in ILL, right? With the development of new technologies there may be a need for a third category.

Susan, Thanks for finding and sharing the clarification we got last year on 452 audio. I was flashing-back on that discussion because so many of the libraries here struggled with that concept.

Susan Vittitow, WY

That's my take on it, too. While I appreciate the clarification, I don't think it makes much sense to circulate something you don't actually "have" in the sense that it's been selected as part of the collection in some sense. I'm trying to wrap my head around how you "circ" something that you don't own and catalog.

Grace Kelly, NY

I agree with Susan and Nicolle.

IMLS Further Response (2):

The definition of circulation, as it is currently written, does not explicitly say that an item has to be included in the OPAC to be counted in circulation.  The SDC membership on the data committee unanimously agreed with the response that was sent out. 

Your position certainly has a lot of merit and there are clearly SDCs who side with you, but there is a process for getting data elements to be re-defined/defined more clearly and that process should be used if you would like to eliminate any ambiguity in how the use of downloadable resources is counted.

Edie Huffman, IN

We obviously need to work on the definition, as a group, to make it consistent. 

Susan Vittitow, WY

The more I thought about this... we count as circ physical things that aren't in the OPAC. I'm thinking of uncataloged racks of paperbacks, etc. I think what I'm trying to wrap my head around is the "frictionless" nature of downloadables, and the distinction of what is actually part of the "collection" in an electronic environment. Although I know we expect electronic resources to grow and we want to track that, we can get meaningless numbers from combining the two sometimes. I feel like we're trying to compare apples with sledgehammers when we try to make both physical and electronic resources play by the same rules and show up on the same bottom line. I've got no answers today -- only puzzlement and more questions!

IMLS Further Response (3):

It might be worth continuing this discussion on the Wiki, since there are so many strong opinions on this subject.

Frank Nelson, ID

I'll second that.