General Questions
Who do I contact with questions?
If at any point you run into any problems or have any questions, please contact Joshua Muse. In fact, if you even suspect you might have a question, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Where and How do I login?
The web address is (a href="https://collectconnect.baker-taylor.com/login.aspx" target="_blank">https://collectconnect.baker-taylor.com/login.aspx , which has not. Login information is also unchanged, but will be going out shortly. If you're not sure of one or both, contact Josh.
Do I need to do the report in order?
You can work on the report in any order. You can stop and come back to the report as often as you would like, just make sure to click Save when you stop.
How do I get help, or see last year's data?
Click the question mark icon to get help on a specific question. Click Show Last Year’s Answers in the upper-right hand corner to see your data from last year.
When should I measure for "snapshot" questions?
When the report asks for a "snapshot" measurement, rather than a count over time, you can measure it near the end of the period you are reporting on. This includes questions like item holdings and number of patrons. For example, if you follow the traditional fiscal year (July 1-June 30), you would measure it on or near June 30. As always, do the best you can, and ask Josh if you have questions.
Why are some questions already filled in?
A number of questions that are less likely to change have been prefilled. In some cases (contact info, service population) these fields can't be changed; let us know if anything is incorrect. Other questions (facilities) are prefilled, but you can correct fields that have changed or need correction.
What is an edit check?
An edit check occurs when the system thinks data in a field doesn't match its expectation. This typically means it’s significantly higher or lower than last year. Once you have entered all of your data, click Status in the menu. This shows all edit checks you need to complete.
Okay, how do I complete an edit check?
For each check, you'll need to give an explanation for the year-to-year difference, such as "we did more programming" or "our children’s librarian was out." Each check will let you know whether it needs to be Federal, State, or Local (click the appropriate tab). Once you’ve entered all of your checks, click Submit Corrections at the bottom of the page. If everything has a green check, you are set. If you see a red X, you still need to adjust something.
Do I need to keep a running tab of everything, or can I use a sample period?
Obviously, keeping a running total is ideal, but we know that's not always possible. One alternative is to take a sample over a couple of typical weeks, and average the results. Sampling can be a good option for questions like library visits, reference questions, WiFi sessions, and website visits.
If we don’t have stats for a field (for example, wireless usage or website visits), how should we indicate that?
(Update) If you don't have data for a question, please enter N/A (not -1). If it's something that your library doesn't do at all, please enter 0.
Staffing
(Important) Are the staffing questions looking for number of weekly staff hours, or number of individual staff?
Please enter the number of weekly staff hours for questions B01 through B06, even though the question names seem to indicate otherwise. THis stems from a difference between how IMLS asks the question (looking for number of Full-Time Equivalents/FTE) and Vermont does (number of weekly staff hours).
How do we include seasonal/non-regular staff hours, like bookmobile staff or subs?
If you are able to take the annual hours for non-regular staff, and then divide it by 52 weeks, you can add that number to the “all other staff” category.
For number of permanent staff, should I included temporary but long-term staff?
For our question about total number of staff, should we include temporary staff? Our intention is to capture your normal, baseline, budgeted number of staff. So I would leave out temporary staff unless you expect to have them for more than a year.
Facilities
For the age of our building, what should we do if the library is located in a later addition to an older building?
If your library is primarily housed in an addition to an older building, please include the age of the addition. For example, if the main building is from 1920, but the great majority of your main library space is in an addition from 1970, please list 1970.
For building renovations, should we include equipment installation like a chair lift or elevator
The facilities questions ask the date that your building was constructed, as well as the most recent addition and renovation. Though it's a major project, don't include something like installation of a chair lift as a renovation.
If we have a space that can be converted into a meeting room, does that count?
If you have a space that you sometimes use as a meeting room, even if it requires moving furniture or shelving, I would answer the meeting room questions for it,
Revenue
Should we try to track building costs for the library by the municipality but outside the library budget
Except for staffing costs, libraries shouldn't capture costs that are outside of their budget but on their behalf. Instead, they should indicate this with a check mark under Municipal In-Kind donations.
If our staff received a grant to attend a conference (VLA, NELA, ARSL, etc...), where should I include that?
These should be included under D04a-c, depending on where the funding came from.
How do I handle restricted gifts?
The IMLS definition explains that contributions to an endowment should not be included, but any other restricted funds should be included.
For in-kind donations, should I include costs which are shared with the town?
In cases where you split costs on a category (with the town or another organization), you should still include it under in-kind donations unless their support is negligible.
Capital Revenue Questions
How do we account for money that is withdrawn from an Endowment/Savings account for use in a Capital Project?
Similar to regular (non-capital) funds, interest that comes from an endowment or savings account should be included under Other Capital Revenue (E01d), while principal (as income that was reported in a previous year), should not be included.
Where do we include expenses for repair due to flooding or similar damage?
If the incoming money were already included in your budget, it would be considered regular income; if it were not, it would be included as capital revenue. If budgeted, the expense side would be included under all other operating expenses, while if not budgeted it would be capital expenditures.
Expenses
Where do I list grant expenses?
(Update) New in 2022, grant expenses do not have a separate question, and should be included under the appropriate category of expense (programming, collections, other, etc...
Holdings
How do I count lendable electronic devices like tablets, laptops, Launchpads, and the like?
Purely video devices (like video Playaways) should be included under Video. Multipurpose devices should be counted under non-traditional items.
How about counting museum/park passes?
Passes should be counted under non-traditional items.
Services
What is a reference question?
The IMLS definition (which you can see by clicking the "?" button next to the question gives a detailed explanation of what is and isn't a reference questions. According to that language, "reference transactions do not include formal instruction or exchanges that provide assistance with locations, schedules, equipment, supplies, or policy statements," and "do not include transactions that include only a directional service, such as instruction for locating staff, library users, or physical features within the library. Examples of directional transactions include, 'Where is the reference librarian? Where is Susan Smith? Where is the rest room? Where are the 600s? Can you help me make a photocopy?'" But they do include nearly everything else.
Services - ILL
Should lending within a consortium count as ILL's?
If possible, intra-consortium lending should be counted as an Inter Library Loan (by both sending and receiving libraries). However, we recognize those stats could be challenging to separate out, so libraries shouldn’t feel stressed if they are not able, especially this time around. We'll consider this a work in progress.
Should checkouts for ILL be included under the general circulation count?
Borrowed ILL’s checked out to your patrons should be included, but items checked out to other libraries should not, if it’s possible to separate those numbers.
Services - Programming
How do I count hybrid in-peson and virtual programs?
Okay, so this is a little weird. IMLS views in-person and virtual programs as both being functionally equivalent – e.g. they are both what was meant by the old (pre-virtual) definition of programming. Because of that, we can’t count a hybrid program under both categories, because then it would look like two programs in the stats. I would use your judgement as to where to count it – you cold put it under whichever had more attendees, or you could always just put it under in-person. For attendance, you would want to separate the numbers out under in-person and virtual, if you are able to do that.
Okay, what about virtual programs that are recorded?
Recordings is totally different (here's the confusing part)! Because recordings are not equivalent to traditional programming (there’s no real-time interaction between staff and patrons), you can count something as a virtual program as well as a recording. And then count recorded views under their own category.
Where should I put Summer Reading statistics
In-person events that are part of summer reading (including launch or end of the season) can be included as a traditional program. Tracking reading should be included as a self-directed activity.
When do other organizations programs held in the building count for programming?
The IMLS instructions read: “Count all programs, whether held on- or off-site, that are sponsored or co-sponsored by the library. Exclude programs sponsored by other groups that use library facilities.” My sense is that the line is probably whether you provided the program support beyond setup and breakdown, including advertising. Non-library programs are included in a separate question in the report.
Services - Outreach/Deliveries
Under Outreach (H21a - H21c), where do we include deliveries to schools?
Please include outreach deliveries to schools as Deliveries to Other Sites (H21c).
Does outreach include bringing non-cataloged books somewhere, like a food shelf or little free library?
After some discussion, we feel outreach should include delivering items, whether they are cataloged or not, and regardless of whether they are intended to come back. This question is not asked by IMLS.
Services - Computer-Related
Should the count of WiFi sessions include staff computers or devices?
Neither the IMLS nor state instructions make any reference to removing sessions for staff devices, though it would likely give you a more accurate number for internal use.
Does the question on website visits include social media
No, it does not. It's certainly possible that IMLS will look to add a related question in the future, but for now this is focused purely on library websites.