The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Statistics Revision Task Force has released its final report.
ARL charged the Statistics Revision Task Force to review the ARL Statistics survey and recommend ways to improve its structure and content so the data collected through this instrument is more useful to ARL member institutions. Task force members met on a regular basis beginning in spring 2022 to review the ARL Statistics survey and similar past work to revise it, engage current and former members of the ARL Research and Analytics Committee, and analyze the results of that engagement.
Centering their work on ARL values, the task force generated several findings and lessons learned, which are discussed further in the report:
- The areas of inquiry used to frame the structure of the ARL Statistics survey complement previous work and are grounded in current research library values.
- Some areas of inquiry may be better suited for inclusion in the ARL Statistics survey than others.
- Some elements of the existing ARL Statistics survey may still be valuable today.
- A task force model may not be the right approach for this work.
- Considering input from multiple perspectives will strengthen recommendations, and also raises challenges.
Given these findings and lessons learned, the task force is not recommending any changes to the ARL Statistics survey at this time. The work of this task force indicates that there is more conversation to be had with the membership about data issues that are high priorities at ARL member institutions.
Rather than creating another group to address the complex task of updating the ARL Statistics survey, the Research and Analytics (R&A) Committee can work through this in an iterative way. Systematically engaging the membership to discuss various and wide-ranging topical issues in library assessment and data and analytics may present opportunities to learn more about the types of metrics that would be impactful for ARL to collect. Once identified, the R&A Committee and ARL staff can socialize potential modifications to the ARL Statistics survey on an ongoing, but piecemeal, basis. Should the committee reach a point where it makes sense to be more deliberate and direct about wholesale changes to the ARL Statistics survey, the best course of action would be to bring in a third-party partner to lead that work with the membership, as supported by the findings and lessons learned in this report.
Download the ARL Statistics Revision Task Force Final Report.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
