CAUL Statistical Data Elements

2020 collection

Existing data elements

2019 collection

Part 1A Existing data elements renamed and definitions improved

Part 1B New data elements

• 1C.1a Usage: Books (Digital) COUNTER Release 5
• 1C.4a Usage: Journals (Digital) COUNTER Release 5

2018 collection

Part 1A Existing data elements retained, renamed and/or definitions improved

Part 1B Existing data elements discontinued / replaced with new elements

Part 2 CAUL Statistics - Data Elements

This new set of data elements was ensorsed by CAUL in September 2018. For improved coherence, there are now six major groupings of statistical elements. In the future, these groupings may be added to, expanded or contracted in order to stay relevant. Any data elements not listed here have been discontinued.

Statistical Data Groups

• Group 1: Information Resources
• Group 1A Information Resources: Expenditure
• Group 1B Information Resources: Title Holdings
• Group 1C Information Resources: Usage
• Group 1D Information Resources: Sharing
• Group 2: Library Expenditure
• Group 3: Library Staff
• Group 4: Library Clients (Population)
• Group 5: Library Facilities
• Group 6: Insitutional Repository

Group 1A: Information Resources: Expenditure

1A.1 Expenditure Books (Digital)
1A.2 Expenditure Books (Physical)
1A. Expenditure: Books (TOTAL) [Sum of 1A.1 and 1A.2]

1A.4 Expenditure: Journals (Digital)
1A.5 Expenditure: Journals (Physical)
1A.6 Expenditure: Journals (TOTAL) [Sum of 1A.4 and 1A.5]

1A.7 Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Digital)
1A.8 Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Physical)
1A.9 Expenditure: Other Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1A.7 and 1A.8]

1A.10 Expenditure: All Information Resources (Digital) [Sum of 1A.1, 1A.4 and 1A.7]
1A.11 Expenditure: All Information Resources (Physical) [Sum of 1A.2, 1A.5 and 1A.8]
1A.12 Expenditure: All Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1A.10 and 1A.11]

Group 1B Information Resources: Title Holdings

1B.1 Title Holdings: Books (Digital)
1B.2 Title Holdings: Books (Physical)
1B.3 Title Holdings: Books (TOTAL) [Sum of 1B.1 and 1B.2]

1B.4 Title Holdings: Journals (Digital)
1B.5 Title Holdings: Journals (Physical)
1B.6 Title Holdings: Journals (TOTAL) [Sum of 1B.4 and 1B.5]

1B.7 Title Holdings: Other Information Resources (Digital)
1B.8 Title Holdings: Other Information Resources (Physical)
1B.9 Title Holdings: Other Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1B.7 and 1B.8]

1B.10 Title Holdings: All Information Resources (Digital) [Sum of 1B.1, 1B.4 and1B. 7]
1B.11 Title Holdings: All Information Resources (Physical) [Sum of 1B.2, 1B.5 and 1B.8]
1B.12 Title Holdings: All Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1B.10 and 1B.11]

Group 1C Information Resources: Usage

1C.1 Usage: Books (Digital) COUNTER Release 4
1C.1a Usage: Books (Digital) COUNTER Release 5
1C.2 Usage: Books (Physical)
1C.3 Usage: Books (TOTAL) [Sum of 1C.1, 1C.1a and 1C.2]

1C.4 Usage: Journals (Digital) COUNTER Release 4
1C.4a Usage: Journals (Digital) COUNTER Release 5
1C.5 Usage: Journals (Physical)
1C.6 Usage: Journals (TOTAL) [Sum of 1C.4, 1C.4a and 1C.5]

1C.7 Usage: Other Information Resources (Digital)
1C.8 Usage: Other Information Resources (Physical)
1C.9 Usage: Other Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1C.8 and 1C.9]

1C.10 Usage: All Information Resources (Digital) [Sum of 1C.1, 1C.1a, 1C.4, 1C.4a and 1C.7]
1C.11 Usage: All Information Resources (Physical) [Sum of 1C.2, 1C.5 and 1C.8]
1C.12 Usage: All Information Resources (TOTAL) [Sum of 1C.10 and 1C.11]

Group 1D Information Resources: Sharing

1D.1 Information Resources: Sharing (Received Items)
1D.2 Information Resources: Sharing (Supplied Items)
1D.3 Information Resources: Sharing (Loaned Items)

Group 2: Library Expenditure

2.1 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Continuing Positions)
2.2 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Fixed-Term Positions)
2.3 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Total Positions) [Sum of 2.1 and 2.2]
2.4 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Casual Allocation)
2.5 Library Expenditure: Salaries (TOTAL) [Sum of 2.3 and 2.4]
2.6 Library Expenditure: Operations
2.7 Library Expenditure: Information Resources [= Expenditure: All Information Resources (TOTAL)]
2.8 Library Expenditure (TOTAL) [Sum of 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7]

Group 3: Library Staff

3.1 Library Staff FTE: Continuing Positions
3.2 Library Staff FTE: Fixed Term Positions
3.3 Library Staff FTE: Positions (TOTAL) [Sum of 3.1 and 3.2]
3.4 Library Staff FTE: HEW 1
3.5 Library Staff FTE: HEW 2
3.6 Library Staff FTE: HEW 3
3.7 Library Staff FTE: HEW 4
3.8 Library Staff FTE: HEW 5
3.9 Library Staff FTE: HEW 6
3.10 Library Staff FTE: HEW 7
3.11 Library Staff FTE: HEW 8
3.12 Library Staff FTE: HEW 9
3.13 Library Staff FTE: HEW 10
3.14 Library Staff FTE: HEW 10+ / Executive

Group 4: Library Clients (Population)

4.1 Population: Staff (Academic Persons)
4.2 Population: Staff (Other Persons)
4.3 Population: Staff (TOTAL Persons) [Sum of 4.1 and 4.2]

4.4 Population: Staff (Academic FTE)
4.5 Population: Staff (Other FTE)
4.6 Population: Staff (TOTAL FTE) [Sum of 4.4 and 4.5]

4.7 Population: Students (Postgraduate Persons)
4.8 Population: Students (Other Persons)
4.9 Population: Students (TAFE/Non-tertiary Persons)
4.10 Population: Students (TOTAL Persons) [Sum of 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9]

4.11 Population: Students (Postgraduate EFTSU)
4.12 Population: Students (Other EFTSU)
4.13 Population: Students (TAFE/Non-tertiary EFTSU)
4.14 Population: Students (TOTAL EFTSU) [Sum of 4.11, 4.12 and 4.13]

4.15 Population: Total Persons [Sum of 4.3 and 4.10]
4.16 Population: Total FTE/EFTSU [Sum of 4.6 and 4.14]

4.17 Population: Students (External Persons)
4.18 Population: Students (External EFTSU)
4.19 Population: Non-institutional Persons

Group 5: Library Facilities

5.1 Library Facilities: Number of Libraries
5.2 Library Facilities: Number of Seats

Group 6: Institutional Repository

6.1 Institutional Repository: Research Outputs
6.2 Institutional Repository: Research Metadata-only Records
6.3 Institutional Repository: Research Outputs (Usage)

Part 3 DEFINITIONS of the data elements which require annual input by institutions

Note: Data elements that are auto-sums are not defined as they are self-explanatory. Definitions are only provided for elements which require annual input by institutions, to assist with accurate determination of inputs.

Group 1A: Information Resources: Expenditure

Information Resources: Expenditure encompasses all financial outlays for information resources regardless of acquisition means (i.e. includes any acquisition method whether one-off purchase, current subscription, current lease, etc.). It includes all financial outlays that result in acquired information resources as well as all financial outlays that simply enable access to digital pools of book content or audio/video content as these information resources are also deemed to be "held" by the institution during the relevant year of data collection.

• 1A. 1 Expenditure: Books (Digital)
  All expenditure on eBooks acquired through any acquisition method. This includes amounts spent to provide access to pools of digital book content. This would include payments for short-term-loans (STL), progressive access-to-own (ATO) payments, evidence-based (EBA) advance payments, etc. Expenditure on digital audiobooks is included in Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Digital).
• 1A.2 Expenditure: Books (Physical)
  All expenditure on physical (print) books acquired through any acquisition method. Expenditure on physical audiobooks is included in Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Physical).
• 1A.4 Expenditure: Journals (Digital)
  All expenditure on eJournals acquired through any acquisition method. This includes expenditure on digital indexing/abstracting resources as they relate to journal content.
• 1A.5 Expenditure: Journals (Physical)
  All expenditure on physical (print) journals or journals in other physical formats (microfilm, etc.) acquired through any acquisition method.
• 1A.7 Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Digital)
  All expenditure on digital information resources other than books and journals, acquired through any acquisition method. This includes expenditure on any other digital media. This includes amounts spent to provide access to pools of digital audio/video content deemed to be held during the relevant year of data collection. This would include deposit payments for draw-downs for streamed audio/video accesses, etc.
• 1A.8 Expenditure: Other Information Resources (Physical)
  All expenditure on any physical information resource other than books and journals, acquired through any acquisition method. This includes expenditure on maps, tangible video/audio and other physical media.

Group 1B: Information Resources: Title Holdings

Information Resources: Title Holdings encompasses all titles that are acquired (i.e. by financial outlay through one-off purchase, current subscription, current lease, or by donation). These titles are deemed to be held by the institution during the relevant collection year. Titles that can be accessed/viewed/short-term-loaned on a digital platform (e.g. EBA/PDA/DDA/ATO streaming audio/video, etc.) are also deemed to be held during the relevant year of data collection even though they have not yet, or may never be, acquired.

• 1B.1 Title Holdings: Books (Digital)
  All digital book titles deemed to be held during the relevant collection year. Where a book title is published both electronically and in print, it may be counted twice, as both digital and physical.
• 1B.2 Title Holdings: Books (Physical)
  All physical book titles held during the relevant collection year. Where a book title is published both electronically and in print, it may be counted twice, as both digital and physical.
• 1B.4 Title Holdings: Journals (Digital)
  All eJournal titles held that are current (i.e. continued to be published in the relevant year of data collection). Free/open access journal titles are not counted as they cannot be deemed "held" by the institution as they form part the wider corpus of free content available to the institutions' students and academics. Where a journal title is published both electronically and in print, it may be counted twice, as both digital and physical. It is accepted that journal title counts in some instances may include double/multiple counting for the same journal title from different content providers, as eliminating these cannot be achieved without undue effort. Journal title changes within the year of data collection that could result in double counting for the same journal are considered negligible and it is therefore not necessary to adjust for this. Each institution is expected to ensure to the best of their ability that the journal title data extracted from their knowledgebase is as complete and accurate as possible.
• 1B.5 Title Holdings: Journals (Physical)
  All physical (print, microfilm, etc.) journal titles held that are unique and current (i.e. continued to be published in the relevant year of data collection). Free physical journal titles may be considered acquired by donation and therefore counted. Where a journal title is published both electronically and in print, it may be counted twice, as both digital and physical. Title changes within the year of data collection that could result in double counting for the same journal are considered negligible and it is therefore not necessary to adjust for this.
• 1B.7 Title Holdings: Other Information Resources (Digital)
  All digital information resource titles held, other than books and journals. This includes titles of indexing/abstracting databases held as well as digital video/audio and other digital media titles deemed to be held.
• 1B.8 Title Holdings: Other Information Resources (Physical)
  All physical information resource titles held, other than books and journals. This includes maps, tangible video/audio and other physical media held.

Group 1C: Information Resources: Usage

Information Resources: Usage encompasses usage of all information resources (books, journals, other) both digital and physical, by staff and students of the institution as well as by non-institutional clients/users.

• 1C.1 Usage: Books (Digital) COUNTER Release 4
  This is the COUNTER Release 4 BR2 total representing all eBook section usage across all publisher and aggregator platforms. A single total R4 BR2 figure for all eBook section usage during the year.
  It includes only usage recorded via R4 BR2 reports for eBooks across all publisher and aggregator platforms. Usage of any eBook title that is not recorded via a R4 BR2 report is excluded.
  For a comprehensive definition of BR2 see: https://www.projectcounter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Library-pdf.pdf
  This will likely include usage of both held and not-held titles.
• 1C.1a Usage: Books (Digital) COUNTER Release 5
  This is the COUNTER Release 5 TR_B3 total representing all eBook section usage across all publisher and aggregator platforms including GOA (usage of gold open access titles).
  It includes only usage recorded via R5 TR_B3 reports for eBooks across all publisher and aggregator platforms. Usage of any eBook title that is not recorded via a R5 TR_B3 report is excluded.
  For a comprehensive definition of TR_B3 see: https://www.projectcounter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Release_5_Librarians_20191018.pdf
  Use the Metric Type "Total Item Requests”.
  Include both Controlled and OA Gold.
  
• 1C.2 Usage: Books (Physical)
  This is the total count of loans of physical (print) books to members of the institution, including loans from reserve collections, as well as loans through ULANZ and other reciprocal and regional borrowing schemes.
• 1C.4 Usage: Journals (Digital) Release 4
  This is the COUNTER Release 4 JR1 total representing all eJournal usage across all publisher and aggregator platforms. A single total COUNTER R4 JR1 figure for all eJournal usage during the year. The R4 JR1 total includes JR1a (usage of backfile/archive titles) as well as JR1 GOA (usage of gold open access titles).
  It includes only usage recorded via R4 JR1 reports for eJournals across all publisher and aggregator platforms. Usage of any title that is not recorded via a R4 JR1 report is excluded.
  For comprehensive definitions of R4 JR1, JR1a and JR GOA see: https://www.projectcounter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Friendly-Guide-to-Journal-Reports-A-guide-for-Librarians.pdf
• 1C.4a Usage: Journals (Digital) Release 5
  This is the COUNTER Release 5 TR_J3 total representing all eJournal usage across all publisher and aggregator platforms including GOA (usage of gold open access titles).
  It includes only usage recorded via R5 TR_J3 reports for eJournals across all publisher and aggregator platforms. Usage of any title that is not recorded via a R5 TR_J3 report is excluded.
  For a comprehensive definition of R5 TR_J3 see: https://www.projectcounter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Release_5_Librarians_20191018.pdf
  Use the Metric Type "Total Item Requests”.
  Include both Controlled and OA Gold.
  
• 1C.5 Usage: Journals (Physical)
  This is the total count of loans of individual physical journal volumes or issues, if these loans are tracked/recorded. It is acknowledged that other usage of physical journals is not easy to capture and report.
• 1C.7 Usage: Other Information Resources (Digital)
  This includes any available total counts of digital information resources other than books and journals. It includes usage of streamed audio/video content. It is acknowledged that usage of these resources may not be readily available for reporting by institutions.
• 1C.8 Usage: Other Information Resources (Physical)
  This is the total count of loans of individual physical information resources, other than books and journals, to members of the institution, including loans from reserve collections, as well as loans through ULANZ and other reciprocal and regional borrowing schemes.

Group 1D: Information Resources: Sharing

Information Resources: Sharing encompasses data on all resource sharing initiatives including reciprocal and regional borrowing schemes.

• 1D.1 Information Resources: Sharing (Received Items)
  This is the total count of all information resources in any format obtained from outside the institution's library to fulfil the requests of the institution's library clients, regardless of whether the sharing method is mediated or unmediated. (Items received through sharing that are then subsequently loaned through the institution's library system to the institution's library clients will also automatically be counted in Information Resources: Usage.)
• 1D.2 Information Resources: Sharing (Supplied Items)
  This is the total count of all information resources in any format supplied to other libraries or clients of other libraries outside of the institution, regardless of whether the sharing method is mediated or unmediated. (Items supplied via loans through the institution's library system will also automatically be counted in Information Resources: Usage.)
• 1D.3 Information Resources: Sharing (Loaned Items)
  This is the total count of all information resource loans (including renewals) to borrowers from other university libraries via ULANZ or through any other borrowing scheme that allows a non-institutional person to borrow from the institution's library. (These loans will also automatically be counted in Information Resources: Usage.)

Group 2: Library Expenditure

This encompasses all library expenditure including expenditure on information resources which is captured separately in data elements under Group 1A Information Resources: Expenditure. Salary expenditure includes all on-costs, shift allowances, etc. When associating salary expenditure with the number of staff positions, the corresponding categories for Continuing and Fixed Term should be used. The auto-sum Library Expenditure: Salaries (Total Positions) corresponds to the auto-sum Library Staff FTE: Positions (TOTAL).

• 2.1 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Continuing Positions)
  This is the total expenditure on salaries for continuing positions during the relevant year.
• 2.2 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Fixed Term Positions)
  This is the total expenditure on salaries for fixed term positions during the relevant year. Note: if an institution is unable to supply a separate figure for salary expenditure on fixed term positions then a single total expenditure figure may be input against Library Expenditure: Salaries (Continuing Positions).
• 2.4 Library Expenditure: Salaries (Casual Allocation)
  This is the total expenditure on casual staffing during the relevant year. Note: there is no correlation of casual salary expenditure with staff positions as there is no position count related to staff employed from the casual allocation in the salary budget.
• 2.6 Library Expenditure: Operations
  This is the total of all other library expenditure during the relevant year (i.e. anything else apart from expenditure on information resources and expenditure on salaries, except for internal charges such as space charges and depreciation that should not be included).

Group 3: Library Staff

Only Library Staff positions that are Continuing or Fixed Term are counted. The count is on an FTE basis, it is not a head-count of persons and it does not include staff employed through the Casual Allocation that forms part of Library Expenditure: Salaries (TOTAL). When associating expenditure with number of positions, the corresponding categories for Continuing and Fixed Term should be used. The auto-sum Library Staff FTE: Positions (TOTAL) corresponds to the auto-sum Library Expenditure: Salaries (Total Positions).

• 3.1 Library Staff FTE: Continuing Positions
  This is the total FTE count of all continuing positions in the library staff profile and funded in the library salaries budget regardless of whether the position was filled, partially filled or vacant during the relevant year.
• 3.2 Library Staff FTE: Fixed Term Positions
  This is the total FTE count of all fixed term positions in the library staff profile and funded in the library salaries budget regardless of whether the position was filled, partially filled or vacant during the relevant year. Note: if an institution is unable to supply a separate figure for fixed term positions then a single total FTE figure may be input against Library Staff FTE: Continuing Positions.
• 3.4 ‐ 3.14 Library Staff FTE: Various HEW Levels
  These are the total counts of Library Staff FTE employed at each HEW level during the relevant year.

Group 4: Library Clients (Population)

Library Clients (Population) encompasses the population of actual and potential clients or users of the institution's library. It includes all staff of the institution (academic, professional and other), all enrolled students of the institution, (postgraduate, undergraduate and other) on the basis of both FTE/EFTSU and the number of persons or head-count. Data for all staff and student categories are exactly as provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skill and Employment, and the Ministry of Education, New Zealand Government. Institutions wishing to do benchmarking or analysis with categories of population data not included in the CAUL Statistics may obtain the data directly from the relevant government departments.
Library Clients (Population) also includes a separate count of registered non-institutional clients/users of the library. This is the only category of population data that requires manual input by institutions. All other population categories are defined as per the relevant government statistics.

• 4.19 Population: Non-institutional Persons
  This is the total count of registered clients/users of the library who are not associated with the institution. It should also include ULANZ borrowers and borrowers through other reciprocal or regional borrowing schemes etc. It does not include borrowers from other institutions using unmediated resource sharing schemes such as BONUS+.

Group 5: Library Facilities

General information about the library, including the number of libraries and seating facilities.

• 5.1 Library Facilities: Number of Libraries
  A library is defined as a physical space that contains one or more collections of physical information resources with direct library client/user access, where library services are provided by library staff and that is managed under the auspices of the University Librarian or equivalent
  A library within a library is not counted as it is regarded as a collection or set of collections within the same library. Library stores are not counted unless they meet all elements of the above definition. Service points are not counted as libraries.
• 5.2 Library Facilities: Number of Seats
  A seat is defined as furniture providing a library client somewhere to sit within a physical space in a library as defined above. Seats include study/formal seats as well as casual/café seats as long as they meet this definition. Outdoor seating adjacent to a library is not counted.

Group 6: Institutional Repository

Institutional Repository refers to an institution's research repository, the primary purpose of which is to house the intellectual research output of an institution in a largely open access environment. Repositories of internal-facing and other resources such as learning objects/assets and repositories of digitised objects that are not research outputs are not included in this definition. An institutional repository may include objects that are not research outputs but only research outputs and metadata records of research outputs are counted.

• 6.1 Institutional Repository: Research Outputs
  This is the total count of research outputs in any format held in the repository. Include all outputs regardless of whether an output was embargoed for part of the relevant year and regardless of whether the output was openly accessible or had restricted access (e.g. for ERA purposes). This is a cumulative figure ‐ include all research outputs in the repository for the relevant year, not just those added during that year.
• 6.2 Institutional Repository: Research Metadata-only Records
  This is the total count of metadata records of research outputs in any format in the repository, where the output itself is not in the repository. This is a cumulative figure ‐ include all metadata records in the repository that accord with this definition, for the relevant year, not just those added during that year.
• 6.3 Institutional Repository: Research Outputs (Usage)
  This is the total count of usages of research outputs in the repository in the relevant year. Usage is regarded as access to an output that facilitates use of the content such reading the text or downloading an output. Accesses to metadata-only records are not counted.