NCES Academic Libraries Survey: Coming Soon!

Every two years the National Center for Education Statistics collects basic statistical data from college and university libraries. That will happen again in Fall 2012 with the launch of the web survey. The general plan is as follows:

October 2012: Each academic library director will receive a letter containing a registration certificate that shows a User ID and password for the library. The director will be asked to indicate a “key holder” who will use those codes to enter the library’s data. November 6, 2012 – to February 26, 2013: The Web collection application will be available at http://surveys.nces.ed.gov/libraries/als. As soon as possible after the data collection period ends, 2012 data will be available in the NCES Compare Academic Libraries Web Tool. That tool is available now, using 2010 data at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/academic.asp. A few months later, summary reports (First Look and Supplemental Tables) will be posted on the NCES Web site. That report will contain tables describing academic libraries. The tables present results by various groupings, such as enrollment size and Carnegie category. A print-only copy of the ALS 2012 form and instructions is posted on the NCES Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/AcaRRQuestDefs.asp. Also on that site is a description of changes from the 2008 form to the 2010 form. The Advisory Committee of academic librarians works with the ALA Office for Research and Statistics to assist NCES with the Academic Libraries Survey. The Office for Research and Statistics Web page has links to all survey materials, a podcast that goes over the survey and the responsibilities of each state’s Library Representative, a list of the NCES Library Representatives in each state, and a roster of the survey Advisory Committee at http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/natlctrforedstats/index.cfm.