Survey Methods

Overview

This page outlines the methodologies for gathering metrics for various surveys in which the FAU Technical Services group participates. Tricky numbers should be added in here. We will then be able to have running documentation on how we arrive at various numbers for surveys and the possible concerns with those metrics. The goal here is that we can quickly identify the values and explain the values we provide to the surveys. Information will be provided by survey type and metric.

Student Handbook Survey

Full-text electronic journals are available to faculty and students

This number has traditionally been derived from the cumulative library cataloging metrics. This is consistent with how we arrive at the same numbers for print, as well as digital. An alternative, but unused method would be use numbers of serials provided to the discovery layer by Serial Solutions (both 101,000 and 192,000). The reasons not to use those numbers are that they are inconsistent, out of the control of library, and the numbers are not transparent. We have no real way of retrieving all of the titles from Serial Solutions.

To validate and or recreate the number we actually use, which is the cataloging metrics, the following query against the Oracle Data Warehouse can be used:

select count(distinct a.bib_doc_num)

from sb.al_bib_fmt a

join sb.al_hol_locn b on a.bib_doc_num = b.bib_doc_num

join SB.AL_KEY_LINKS c on b.HOL_DOC_NUM = c.HOL_DOC

left join SB.AL_STA d on c.HOL_DOC = d.HOL_DOC_NUM

WHERE

d.HOL_DOC_NUM is null

and b.inst = 'FA'

and b.sub_lib = 'FAUER'

and a.BIB_FMT = 'SE';

The query, in plain language says:

all records that

• have format of serial (to be a serial)

• are associated with FAU (to be held by us)

• are in sublibrary FAUER (to be electronic)

• the holding is not suppressed (to suggest that the holdings are active and current)