NISO Z39.7-201X, Information Services and Use: Metrics & statistics for libraries and information providers - Data Dictionary
Draft for Trial Use. A proposed revision to the 2004 edition of the standard.
Appendix A: Methods of Measurement
Expenditures
Report funds expended by the library in the fiscal year being measured (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. Expenditures should be reported for the 12-month period that corresponds to your library's fiscal year. Fiscal years typically commence between the calendar period June 1 to September 30. All expenditures should be reported in whole dollars in the most appropriate category to provide an unduplicated count of expenditures. DO NOT REPORT ANY EXPENDITURES MORE THAN ONCE.
Gate Count in a Typical Week
Report the number of persons who physically enter library facilities in a typical week. It is understood that a single person may be counted more than once.
Hours Open in a Typical Week
Report an unduplicated count of hours a library facility or facilities are open in a typical week, including the main library and branches, using the following method. If a library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, it should report 40 hours per week. If several of its branches are also open during those hours, the figure remains 40 hours per week. Should Branch A also be open one evening from 7:00 to 9:00, the total hours during which users can find service becomes 42. If Branch B is open the same hours on the same evening, the total remains 42, but if it is open two hours on another evening, or from 5:00 to 7:00 on the evening when Branch A is open later, the total becomes 44 hours during which users can find service.
Collect service hours separately from hours a library facility is open.
Infrastructure Measurements
Infrastructure measurements are related to the following categories:
5.1 Gross Measured Area; 5.2 Net Usable Area; 5.3 Net Usable Area by Function; 5.4 Facilities,
5.4.1 Mobile Facilities, 5.4.2 Physical Facilities; 5.5 Seating Capacity; 5.6 Workstations, 5.6.1 Available Workstations, 5.6.2 Available Internet Workstations.
Methods of measurement within these categories include square footage, linear feet, cubic feet, and physical item count. The FSCS survey of public library data reports square footage of facilities, and a definition is available from the NCES website http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/public.asp. The U. S. National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) provide useful information on these methods. SAA recently updated A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, Richard Pearce-Moses http://www.archivists.org/glossary/GART_2004-06-26.pdf
NARA has developed a Lifecycle Data Requirements Guide for their internal use.
To request guidance from NARA on methods of measuring collection size, capacity, and the like, please submit a question to them through the "Contact NARA" link at http://www.archives.gov/global_pages/contact_us.html. Additionally, refer to the Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Records Managers, Lewis J. Bellardo and Lynn Carlin. This edition is currently available for purchase from the SAA website at http://www.archivists.org/catalog/. A revision is underway and will be online and searchable from the SAA website.
Reference Transactions in a Typical Week
Report the total number of reference transactions in a typical week. A reference transaction is an information contact that involves the knowledge, use, commendation, interpretation, or instruction in the use of one or more information sources by a member of the library staff. Information sources include printed and non-printed materials, machine-readable databases (including assistance with computer searching), catalogs and other holdings records, and, through communication or referral, other libraries and institutions, and persons both inside and outside the library. Include information and referral services. If a contact includes both reference and directional services, it should be reported as one reference transaction. When a staff member utilizes information gained from a previous use of information sources to answer a question, report as a reference transaction, even if the source is not consulted again during this transaction. Duration should not be an element in determining whether a transaction is a reference transaction.
Total Annual Number of Database Queries/Searches
Total count of the number of searches conducted in the library's online databases. Subsequent activities by users (e.g., browsing, printing) are not considered part of the search process. Check with your database vendor for these data.
Total Annual Number of Items Examined Using Subscription Services
Count the number of views to each vendor subscription (OCLC, Gale, etc.) to which the library subscribes. A view is defined as the number of full text articles/pages, abstracts, citations, and text only or text/graphics viewed.
Total Circulation
The total annual circulation of all library materials of all types, including renewals. Note: Count all materials in all formats that are charged out for use outside the library. Interlibrary loan transactions included are only items borrowed for users.
Total Full Time Equivalent Employees (FTE)
Report the number of filled or temporarily vacant FTE positions paid from funds under library control during the Fall of the fiscal year being reported. To compute FTE's of part-time employees and student assistants, take the TOTAL number of hours worked per week 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 (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.
Total Number of Materials Held at End of Fiscal Year
Report the total number of each category held at end of fiscal year. To get this figure, take the total number held at the end of the previous fiscal year, add the number added during the fiscal year just ended and subtract the number withdrawn during that period.
Total Unduplicated Population of Legal Service Areas
This is the total unduplicated population of those areas in your state that receive library services. The population of un-served areas is not included in this figure. Note: A state's actual total population of legal service areas may be different.
Typical Week
A "typical wek" is a time that is neither unusually busy nor unusually slow. Avoid holidays, vacation periods, days when unusual events are taking place in the community or in the library. Choose a week in which the library is open regular hours.
E-metrics
Four core datasets have been identified which should, if possible, be collected for all services - separately for each service as well as summed for all services:
In addition to these core datasets that provide basic information on the use of electronic services, some additional data have been found relevant and should be collected when possible and appropriate:
All data refer to the use of the library collection, the library's website, the OPAC and Internet access via the library - not to users - accessing documents on the Internet that are publicly available and free via the Internet access in the library.
Figure 1 shows the data on use of the library's electronic services that are considered necessary and useful for collection by libraries.
| From inside the library |
From elsewhere inside the institution |
From outside the institution |
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| Number of sessions, OPAC | |||
| Number of sessions, commercial services |
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| Number of rejected sessions (turnaway) |
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| Number of searches (queries), library collection |
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| Number of searches (queries), commercial services |
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| Number of searches (queries), OPAC | |||
| Number of units/records examined, library collection full-content units |
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| Number of units/records examined, commercial services full-content units |
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| Number of units/records examined, library collection descriptive records |
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| Number of units/records examined, commercial services descriptive records |
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| Number of units/records examined, OPAC descriptive records |
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| Number of virtual visits | |||
| Number of menu selections | |||
| Number of virtual reference transactions |
Sessions
A session is defined as a successful request of a database or the OPAC. It is one cycle of user activities that typically starts when a user connects to a database or the OPAC and ends by terminating activity in the database or OPAC that is either explicit (by leaving the database through log-out or exit) or implicit (timeout due to user inactivity) (see ISO 2789, 3.3.21 and Annex A).
Note: For multiple databases compiling several individual databases further information should be provided as to the separate databases hosted.
In some cases (e.g. OPAC use inside the library), several users one after the other might make use of the same workstation, and sessions could not be separated. In most systems, a session is cut off after a specified time of non-use, thus avoiding part of the problem. The average timeout setting would be 30 minutes. If another timeout period is used this should be reported. Browser or proxy cashing will be likely to reduce the number of requests registered in logfiles.
Rejected Sessions (Turnaways)
A rejected session (turnaway) is defined as an unsuccessful log-in to an electronic service by exceeding the simultaneous user limit (see ISO 2789, 3.3.17 and Annex A)
Note: Failure of log-in because of wrong passwords is excluded.
The number of sessions exceeding the simultaneous user limit cannot always be differentiated from other rejections (e.g., missing or mistyped passwords).
Document Downloaded
Full text of a document or part of a document in the electronic collection that is delivered to a user. (ISO 2789, 3.3.3)
Documents or Records Viewed
Some electronic services (e.g., OPAC, reference database) do not typically require downloading as simply viewing documents (abstracts, titles) is normally sufficient for users' needs. Viewing documents is defined as having the full text of a digital document or electronic resource downloaded, or any catalogue record or database entry fully displayed during a search. (ISO 2789, Annex A).
Note: Documents viewed and downloading transactions can be compared to the following steps in the traditional use of open access collections: browsing at the shelves and taking documents to a working place or to the issue desk.
Number of Searches (Queries)
A search is defined as intending to represent a unique intellectual inquiry. Typically a search is recorded every time a search request is submitted to the server (see 2789, 3.3.20 and Annex A) [applies to licensed database services]
Note: Mistyped search strings do not represent unique intellectual inquiries. In practice, however, libraries will have difficulties to differentiate these unintended searches from intended, but unsuccessful searches. Also, will need to exclude spider/crawler searches.
Total Annual Virtual Visits to Networked Library Resources
A visit occurs when an external user connects to a networked library resource for any length of time or purpose [regardless of the number of pages or elements viewed]. Examples of a networked library resource include a library OPAC or a library web page. In the case of a user visit to a library web site, a user who looks at 16 pages and 54 graphic images registers one visit on the Web server.)
Number of Menu Selections
Number of user initiated searches through the use of alphabetic and subject menu selections. (ICOLC)
Note: Categorized as appropriate for the vendor systems, if display data can be accomplished by browsing (e.g., the use of menus).
Full-Content Units Examined (licensed resources)
Number of Full-Content Units examined, downloaded, or otherwise supplied to user, to the extent that these are recordable and controlled by the server rather than the browser. (ICOLC Guidelines, December 2001). Note: (1) Journal articles - by journal title with ISSN and title listed; (2) eBooks - by book title with ISBN and title listed; (3) Reference materials - by content unit appropriate to the resource (e.g., dictionary definitions, encyclopedia articles, biographies, etc.); (4) Non-textual resources - by file type as appropriate to resources (e.g., image, audio, video, etc.). (ICOLC Guidelines, December 2001)
Number of Public Access Workstations Annual count of the total number of library owned public access graphical workstations that connect to the Internet for a dedicated purpose (to access an OPAC or spectsemultiple purposes. Collect and report this statistic for each participating branch, if applicable. (Branch Level Statistic).
Computers in computer labs used for public instruction if graphical and connected to the Internet should be counted. Public access graphical workstations that connect to the Internet that are used by both staff and the public should be counted if the workstation is used by the public for at least half of the hours during an average week that the library is open to the public. Reference desk computers used by staff to assist the public should not be counted.
Number of Public Access Workstation Users Annual count of the number of users of all of the library's graphical public access workstations connected to the Internet computed from a one-week sample. (Branch Level Statistic).
Note: Select a one-week period during the test period. One week equals the number of hours the library is pen over a consecutive seven-day period. Note: Data may be collected for more than one week and averaged but report this change in procedure when submitting the data to the project web site.
Count each user that uses the graphical public access workstations connected to the Internet, regardless of the amount of time spent on the computer. A user who uses the library's workstations three times a week would count as three users in the count. Internet use includes all types of usage including WWW, e-mail, telnet, chat, etc. The study team recognizes the potential difficulty of determining whether a user on a multi-purpose (CD-ROM access, word processing, etc.) workstation is using the Internet. Do not include staff use of these workstations.
Obtain a total figure of users for the week (or an average weekly use figure if you counted users over a two-week period) and report that number for each participating branch, if applicable. If you collect the user data over a two-week period, for example during the first week 70 users were counted, 80 users were counted the second week, the average number of users would be 75 (obtained and reported by adding week one's users to week two's [70 + 80 = 150] and dividing by the number of weeks surveyed [150 / 2 = 75]).
Virtual Reference Transactions
Virtual reference transactions conducted via e-mail, website, or other network-based medium designed to support virtual reference. (ARL E-metrics; Bertot, McClure, Ryan). Combined definition to create a new one. Note: Includes questions either received or responded to electronically.
General note from the National Center for Education Statistics regarding E-metrics: Due to significant reporting problems in Fiscal Year 2002, data will not be collected in the FY2003 State Library Agency Survey (StLA), and that these items are currently under review by the StLA Survey Steering Committee.
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