Methods for Counting Unique Titles

As it is the season of annual statistics, many of you are likely wrestling with different reporting forms from ACRL, IPEDS, or other organizations. CARLI will soon require some of this data for the Alma migration as well.

In recent years, stat surveys have moved the emphasis from volume counts to title counts. Getting details on just the title level, while also accounting for format and location, can be a challenge in most library collections. Here are some tips on how to incorporate some deduplication into your reports.

For your print collections in Voyager, we have a report called Collection Stat 11: Unsuppressed Title Count by Format and Location. [1] This query starts with the assumption that a single bib record is basically equivalent to a single title. The query identifies and pulls only data for unsuppressed bibs and mfhds, so that withdrawn or in-process titles and holdings are ignored. The results identify the number of titles held in each holdings location by format. This query is not yet in any CARLI_Reports_20XX.mdb databases, so you will need to get the queries from the CARLI website at the above link.

If your electronic resources are cataloged in Voyager, you may be able to draw some statistical conclusions from the Collection Stat 11 report. For instance, your e-book holdings may stand out if you use a dedicated location for electronic resources, and you find those resources with format “am=book”. You may have a similar experience with e-journals, though reporting sites may ask you to go further in deduplicating titles.

If you use SFX as your link resolver, we have instructions on Counting Serial Titles through SFX. [2] This report allows you to download the data on all full-text portfolios in SFX, then review those data in text files, Excel, or other data management tools (Access, OpenRefine, etc.). Once you have the data in your tool of choice, you may deduplicate based on ISSN, or on a combination of ISSN and title (for resources without ISSNs).

If you use other systems for tracking your electronic resources, then you may need to check with your vendor or the user community for that product to find a reasonable reporting methodology. In 2008, the Association of Research Libraries published the ARL Statistics Best Practices for Deduplicating Serial Titles report. [3] This document includes additional methods for querying catalogs (including Voyager) and link resolvers (SFX and Serials Solutions). While some of the information may be dated, you may find that the practices help you identify the best method for your current systems.

These are just a few of the methods that CARLI staff consider in helping libraries with reports of this type. It is definitely not an exhaustive list. If you have other methodologies, please feel free to respond to the list with your discussion.

As noted above, in the near future, CARLI and Ex Libris will request data on your collection size, namely the number of bibliographic titles, the number of e-books, and the number of unique e-journal titles. We hope the resources shared here will help you prepare for those requests, as well as to answer any statistical reports you have at hand now.

As always, you may also contact us at support@carli.illinois.edu.

Resources:

[1] https://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/i-share/reports/secure/sql-desc#collstat11
[2] https://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/link-resolver-sfx/secure/counting-objects
[3] http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/dedupe_best_practices.doc