NCES Describes U.S. Higher Education The U.S. National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) collects a variety of data to describe the social, demographic, and economic trends affecting higher education in the United States. Traditionally, NCES has monitored patterns of institutional characteristics; more recently, however, the agency has added studies that track characteristics and performance of individual faculty and students. The result is a rich resource of large datasets describing the various constituencies in higher education, i.e. institutions, graduate and undergraduate students, and faculty. Some of the major datasets available from NCES are briefly described below. The major source of institutional information on higher education in the U.S. is the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), a series of eight surveys on various aspects of university characteristics, including libraries. Data on academic libraries are available on a biannual basis and the latest, just released, are the 1992 data. The biannual schedule for the academic libraries data compilation and its tardy release limit its usefulness, but it is the only effort underway to collect data on the universe of academic libraries, and thus is of great importance. For an illustration of the use of academic libraries data, see the accompanying table on academic library resources. The other parts of IPEDS cover the following areas: Institutional Characteristics; Fall Enrollment; Fall Enrollment in Occupational-specific Programs; Completions; Salaries, Tenure, and Fringe Benefits of Full-time Instructional Faculty; Financial Statistics; and Fall Staff. NCES also collects data describing students and faculty, their characteristics, and their achievements. These datasets are a rich source of information that may be of use to research libraries. The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a comprehensive, nationwide study of 70,000 undergraduate, graduate, and first- professional student demographics, family income, education expenses, employment, education aspirations, parental demographic characteristics, parental support, and how students and their families meet the costs of postsecondary education. In addition to describing characteristics of students enrolled in postsecondary education, the results are used in part to help determine future federal policies regarding student financial aid. NPSAS surveys were conducted in 1986-87, 1989-90, and 1992-93. NPSAS surveys are scheduled for 1995-96 and 2000-01. During the last five years, NCES has created two longitudinal datasets to enhance the base of information on student persistence, progress, and attainment from initial entry into postsecondary education to transition between undergraduate and graduate education, through leaving and entering the workforce. The Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study (BPS) and the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) survey address questions related to persistence such as: Do students who are part-time or discontinuous attendees have the same educational goals as full-time, consistent attendees? Are students who change majors more or less likely to persist? Are nontraditional students more or less likely to persist than more traditional counterparts? In the area of progress and curriculum, questions addressed include: What is the ÒnormalÓ rate of academic progress? What educational experiences are related to ÒnormalÓ and consistent progress? Is likelihood of transfer between institutions related to academic majors? Attainment/outcome questions include: What educational experiences encourage completion? How long does it take to complete the program? The National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) was designed to provide data about faculty. The most recent cycle gathered information about approximately 30,000 faculty from 950 institutions. NSOPF can be used to analyze whether the postsecondary labor force is declining or increasing. It can also be used to analyze faculty job satisfaction and how it correlates with an area of specialization; and how background and specialization skills relate to current assignments. Comparisons can be made on academic rank and outside employment. An annual Survey of Earned Doctorates Awarded in the United States is of relevance to research libraries because of the typically intense nature of the demands doctoral candidates place on library resources. The survey collects basic statistics about the universe of doctoral recipients in the United States each year since 1920s. From this data it is possible to determine whether the number of doctoral recipients is increasing or decreasing, by field of study. The various sources of financial aid for doctoral students can also be assessed, as can the average time it takes to complete the degree. There is little research that relates library resources and services to educational persistence, progress, and attainment. An examination of NCES and other education assessment efforts that are focused on institutional and individual performance, may help guide academic and research library efforts to measure how they contribute to the performance of students, faculty, and researchers. For more information about the datasets described in this article, contact the following staff in the NCES Division of Postsecondary Education Statistics. IPEDS Academic Libraries: Jeffrey Williams, 202-219-1362 Other surveys: Roslyn Korb, 202-219-1587 NPSAS Andrew G. Malizio, 202-219-1448 BPS and B&B Paula Knepper, 202-219-1914 NSOPF Linda J. Zimbler, 202-219-1834 Survey of Earned Doctorates Nancy Schantz, 202-219-1590