Census will begin changing the WebPLUS online submission tool for the FY2011 Public Libraries Survey to include the changed data element definition. Many of you are able to make the change to your FY2011 survey.  All states/territories will be asked to make the change for the FY2012 survey. 

4 year process for 2011 data elements.pdf

Wiki pages that were set up for discussion of FY2011 data elements:

3-11-11:  Proposals for Data Element Definitions – FY2011

http://plsc.pbworks.com/w/page/28538645/3-11-11:%20Proposals%20for%20Data%20Element%20Definitions%20-%20FY2011

Further Discussion (during balloting period) March 30-April 20, 2011

http://plsc.pbworks.com/w/page/38487712/Further-discussion-on-proposed-FY2011-PLS-Data-Elements

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Change (1 item):

450 Print Materials

(Report ONLY BOOKS IN PRINT)

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. 

The following (part 2 of the definition) will be deleted beginning with the FY2011 PLS:

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.

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.