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The ALL-SIS Statistics Roundtable met at AALL on Monday, July 16 at 5:15 p.m. Mila Rush (University of Minnesota) presided over the meeting. Our initial discussion focused on the results of the recent statistics-gathering survey created and distributed by the group in 2000/2001. The purpose of the survey itself was to determine "whether the simplification of the ABA form might leave a vacuum in the types of legitimate parameters that might be useful for academic law libraries to gather and report".

The survey was distributed to the directors of all law school libraries. Approximately, one-third of those libraries queried responded to the survey.

The survey's questions as well as a brief summary of the responses are as follows:

1) In addition to the ABA, to whom do you provide statistical reports?

The vast majority of libraries submit statistics to ARL, IPEDS, and GPO in addition to the ABA.

2) List statistical measures you do not currently track, but that you think will be useful to gather for various purposes.

While many respondents agreed that when it comes to statistics, less is better, several suggested expanded questions concerning electronic services and/or resources. In addition, there was a desire to see more in-depth salary information for staff other than directors.

3) If you have an integrated library system (ILS), what statistical reports does your ILS automatically generate for you? Please name the ILS.

Most respondents have ILS systems that can provide reports for circulation transactions, fund accounting and item counts. Many commented though that these reports frequently needed to be "tweaked" in order to be useful when gathering annual statistics. It was suggested that librarians, particularly those using the same ILS systems, coordinate how records are coded so that the results could be of more use when completing the ABA report.

4) Any comments?

A common complaint was the inconsistency of definitions across the various questionnaires. Also mentioned was whether or not questionnaires successfully measured a library's effectiveness of services in any meaningful way.

5) Name and library (optional, but helpful)

If you would like a more detailed summary of the ALL-SIS Statistics Survey and its results, please e-mail Mila Rush at m-rush@umn.edu or phone her at 612-625-0793.

The remainder of the roundtable centered around a discussion of the ABA questionnaire itself. Present at the meeting was Marian Parker (Wake Forest University), a member of the ABA Section of Legal Education Law Libraries Committee. Ms. Parker, along with Michael Chiorazzi (Arizona State University) another member of the committee, reported from the minutes of their most recent meeting.

During the course of their meeting, the committee discussed in detail each of the questions on the current ABA questionnaire to determine whether or not the questions still provided useful information. Given changes in technology, the group also examined the methods for obtaining accurate and meaningful statistics.

The following two questions have been deleted from this year's questionnaire:

Question 13. Does the library have an integrated catalog including acquisitions, serials control, cataloging and circulation?

The committee felt this question was no longer necessary since virtually all law school libraries have implemented integrated catalogs.

Question 19. Usage (including off-site usage) of online computer assisted legal research systems by faculty, students and staff.

Given the widespread availability of computers and software throughout law schools, it was felt it would be very difficult to accurately determine exact usage figures.

In addition:

Questions 31 and 32 (both deal with the number of seats available to library users) will be referred to Library Directors for discussion.

Questions 38, 40, and 41 (all dealing with numbers of computer workstations and connection issues) will be further explored in light of the rapid changes in technology (e.g. students using their own computers, wireless connections, etc. ).

Questions pertaining to library expenditures will also be further analyzed.

Ms. Parker was thanked for her participation in the Roundtable as well as her offer to communicate to the ABA committee some of our concerns with the questionnaire. In the coming weeks, Mila will forward pertinent survey findings, comments, and possible recommendations to the appropriate bodies (i.e. AALL, ABA, and perhaps ARL, various ILS user groups, and the OBS Local Systems committee).

No specific charge was given to the Roundtable this year. They will continue to meet at the annual conference to discuss various issues surrounding the ABA questionnaire as well as statistics-gathering in general. Given the late hour (as well as everyone's desire to get to the West Reception) the roundtable was adjourned.

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