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Using Analytics to Complete Library Surveys

In order to aid libraries in the completion of surveys, including the annual Wyoming State Library

Public Library survey, I created the Library Survey folder in Shared Reports in Analytics.

Below I provide descriptions and instructions on how to use these reports using a hypothetical survey

as an example.

Note about Reports in Analytics

Reports in Analytics are templates with prompts. The prompts are a way to filter the report’s results

before you run the report. (You can also filter the results of your report after you run it by creating a

view filter. For instructions on how to do this, see the Adding a View Filter to a Report technote).

One thing you want to remember about prompts is that you do not have to make selections for all

prompts-only those policies you want to limit. If you do not make any selections for a prompt, all

available elements (for that policy) will be included in the report’s results. For example, for this Item

Library Code elemental prompt, if you do not select any library codes (move the codes from the

“Available” to “Selected” pane), all item libraries will be included in the report’s results:

For more information about using prompts, see the Using Prompts in Analytics technote. For more

detailed information about using Analytics, please see the Analytics Training Guide for WYLD

Libraries (password-protected). Contact the WYLD Office for username and password:

support@wyldnetwork.org.

In order to demonstrate how this report works, I will use the State Library as an example. For this

example, the survey requires the following for Fiscal Year July-June 2019:

Number of print items at the end of FY2019

Number of audio items at the end of FY2019

Number of video items at the end of FY2019

Number of print serial subscriptions at the end of FY2019

Children’s circulation (physical collection) for FY2019

Total physical circulation for FY2019

Number of registered borrowers at the end of FY2019

Because I did not make

any selections (left the

“Selected” window

blank), all item libraries

will be included in the

report’s results.

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*Item Counts by Item Type Report

The first report you should run is the *Item Counts by Item Type report. Running this report can help

you determine which item types your library uses. Some of the reports in this folder include stats

broken down by item type. These reports are broken down by item type because most surveys seek

statistics according to item format.

The *Item Counts by Item Type report has two prompts.

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for Item Library Code. Select item library codes for your

library system. You can select items by double-clicking. The Wyoming State Library does not

have any branches. I will select only WSL:

2. Prompt 2 is a value prompt for Item Created Date. If you do not enter a date for this prompt,

all items created as of yesterday will be included in the report’s results. You have the option to

limit the Item Created Date to the end of the fiscal year needed for the survey or earlier. For

example, if the survey requires stats at the end of Fiscal Year July-June 2019, you would enter

“6/30/2019” in the text field for this prompt. The survey requires stats at the end of Fiscal Year

July-June 2019, so I will enter ‘”6/30/2019” in the text box:

You can either use the calendar gadget to select the date or enter the date manually in this

format “6/30/2019”. To run the report, click the “Run Report” button on the bottom left-hand

part of the screen.

Note: Analytics currently does not support “snapshot” reporting. In other words, even if you enter

an item created date for the end of the fiscal year, any items deleted from the database since that

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date up to the day before you run the report will not be included in the report’s results. Therefore,

for the most accurate results, run item count reports the day after the end of the fiscal year. For

example, if you need stats for Fiscal Year July-June 2020, you would run the report 7/1/2020. This

is only the case for item count and user count stats. Historical circ stats are not affected by when

you run the report. If you are unable to run this report on July 1, you can schedule the report

to run on this date and have the results sent to your email.

Here are my report results:

3. I suggest you export this list to Excel or copy it into a word processing program, so you can

refer to it for the other reports.

Now that you know which item types you are currently using, you are ready to run the other

reports.

Note: Check definitions for the stats requested before running any of these reports. For example, in

the Wyoming Public Library Survey, some of the stats requested have a definition. You can obtain the

definition by clicking on the title. Also, double-check with technical services regarding which item

types are used for certain formats. For example, one library may use item type NEW for books while

another may use it for DVDs.

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Item and Title counts by Item Type (Create your own custom group)

This report allows you to create categories based on item type: Print Materials, Audio Materials,

Video Materials, Serials, and Electronic Resources (if you have electronic resources in the database).

Stats for State-licensed content, such as RBDigital and Cloud Library, are not available in Analytics.

For these stats, visit our libguide page . If your library has locally licensed digital resources (such as

Overdrive), please contact your vendor regarding stats.

This report counts the number of items and the number of titles. Number of titles is the number of

bibliographic records that an item library has an item record linked to.

These categories work like filters. Therefore, only those item types you select will be included in the

report’s results. All other non-selected item types will be excluded. Also, you can select the same item

type in more than one category.

You are not required to make selections for any group; however, selections must be made for at least

one category in order for the report to run. If you do not make any selections for a category, you will

receive this error message:

This report can provide the following statistics for the survey:

Number of print items at the end of FY2019

Number of audio items at the end of FY2019

Number of video items at the end of FY2019

Number of print subscriptions for serials at the end of FY2019

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for Item Library Code. Select item library codes for your

library system. You can select items by double-clicking. I will select WSL for this prompt:

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2. Prompt 2 is an elemental prompt for item policy Item Category 2. You would use this prompt if

the survey asks to limit the report results to adult, juvenile, or young adult items.

Note: The accuracy of report results using an Item Category 2 filter depends on how your

library catalogs adult, juvenile, and young adult items. Use only if your library consistently uses

Item Category 2 policies to distinguish adult, juvenile, or young adult items. Your library may

use another item policy, such as Item Category 1 or Home Location, to categorize adult,

juvenile, or young adult items.

The survey for this example does not require item counts broken down by age group, so I will

leave this prompt blank:

3. Prompt 3 is an elemental prompt for Item Status. Item Status is the Analytics term for “Current

Location”. You would use this prompt, for example, if you want to exclude discards from the

report’s results. (Discarded items have a current location of DISCARD). Because items with a

current location of DISCARD have been removed from the WSL collection permanently, I will

exclude Item Status DISCARD from the report’s results. To exclude discards, first move all

selections from the “Available” pane to the “Selected” pane by clicking this icon .

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Next, move DISCARD back to the “Available” pane by double-clicking on it.

4. Prompt 4 is a value prompt for Item Created Date. If you do not enter a date for this prompt,

all items created as of yesterday will be included in the report’s results. You have the option to

limit the Item Created Date to the end of the fiscal year needed for the survey or earlier.

I am looking for item counts at the end of Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I will enter

“6/30/2019” in the text field for this prompt:

You can either use the calendar gadget to select the date or enter the date manually in this

format “6/30/2019”.

Note: Analytics currently does not support “snapshot” reporting. In other words, even if you enter

an item created date for the end of the fiscal year, any items deleted from the database since that

date up to the day before you run the report will not be included in the report’s results. Therefore,

for the most accurate results, run item count reports the day after the end of the fiscal year. For

example, if you need stats for Fiscal Year July-June 2020, you would run the report 7/1/2020. This

is only the case for item count and user count stats. Historical circ stats are not affected by when

you run the report. . If you are unable to run this report on July 1, you can schedule the

report to run on this date and have the results sent to your email.

5. Prompt 5 is an elemental prompt for the category Print Materials. The survey requires the

number of print items in our collection at the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Referring back to the

results of the *Item Counts by Item Type report, the State Library uses the following item

types for print materials:

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BOOK

GOVDOC

MANUSCRIPT

MAP

MUSIC

NEWSPAPER

NONCIRC

PAMPHLET

PERIODICAL

REF-BOOK

Therefore, I will select these item types for this prompt:

Note: Remember, always check the survey for a definition for print materials. For example, do print

materials include serials? Also, double-check with technical services regarding which item types are

used for print materials. For example, one library may use item type NEW for books while another

may use it for DVDs.

6. Prompt 6 is an elemental prompt for the category Audio Materials. The survey requires the

number of audio items in our collection at the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Referring back to the

results of the *Item Counts by Item Type report, the State Library uses the following item

types for audio materials:

AUDIOCASS

CDBOOK

CDMUSIC

I will select these item types for this prompt:

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Note: Remember, always check the survey for a definition for audio materials. Also, double-check

with technical services regarding which item types are used for audio materials. For example, one

library may use item type MUSIC for sheet music while another may use it for music CDs.

7. Prompt 7 is an elemental prompt for the category Video Materials. The survey requires the

number of video items in our collection at the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Referring back to the

results of the *Item Counts by Item Type report, the State Library uses the following item

types for video materials:

DVD

VIDEO

I will select these item types for this prompt:

Note: Remember, always check the survey for a definition for video materials. Also, double-

check with technical services regarding which item types are used for video materials.

8. Prompt 8 is an elemental prompt for the category Serials. The survey requires the number of

serial subscriptions in our collection at the end of Fiscal Year 2019. Because our library does

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not use the Acquisitions module to keep track of serial subscriptions, I will use this report to

count the number of serial titles. (Another option for libraries that use serial control is to count

the number of serial control records. Serials reports can be found in the “Serials” folder in

Shared Reports). Referring back to the results of the *Item Counts by Item Type report, the

State Library uses the following item types for serials:

NEWSPAPER

PERIODICAL

I will select these item types for this prompt:

Note: Remember, always check the survey for a definition for serials. For example, does the survey

just want print subscriptions? Also, double-check with technical services regarding which item types

are used for serials. Also, your library may have print serial subscriptions for titles not in WYLDcat.

Note: As mentioned earlier in the document, for reports that use custom groups, you can select the

same item type in more than one category:

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9. Prompt 9 is an elemental prompt for the category Electronic Resources. The example survey

does not require the number of electronic resources. I will leave this prompt blank:

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10. Prompt 10 is available in case the survey requires another category besides Print Materials,

Audio Materials, Video Materials, Serials, or Electronic Resources. This survey does not

require any further categories so I will leave this prompt blank:

Below are my report results:

I included Item Type in the grid so you can double-check your prompt answers, but you can

remove the column from the grid for better readability by right-clicking on the column header

and selecting “Remove from Grid”:

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Total Circulation by Item Category 2

Number of Physical

Items

Number of Audio

Items

Number of Video

Items

Number of Print Serial

Subscriptions

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This report counts the number of circulation transactions (Checkouts, Renewals, and Use Item

transactions) for a selected month, selected Fiscal Year July-June, or you can create your date

range. (For example, you would create your own date range if the survey requires Fiscal Year

August-July instead of July-June). This report only contains circ stats for physical items or those that

are in Symphony (WYLDcat). Stats for State-licensed content, such as RBDigital and Cloud Library,

are not available in Analytics. For these stats, visit our libguide page . If your library has locally

licensed digital resources, please contact your vendor regarding stats.

The grid in this report breaks down circ stats by Item Category 2. However, there are additional

Report Objects that can be added the grid:

The report can provide the following statistics for the survey:

Children’s circulation (physical collection) for FY2019

Total physical circulation for FY2019

In order to obtain these stats, I am going to run this report twice: once for children’s circulation and

once for total physical circulation.

Children’s circulation (physical collection) for FY2019

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Station Library. Station Library is the library in

which the transaction took place at or the “Checkout” library. Select library codes for your

library system. You can select items by double-clicking. I will select WSL for this prompt:

Any of the Report Objects in black

font can be added to the grid.

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2. Prompt 2 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Month. The survey requires circ stats for all of

Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I will leave this prompt blank:

3. Prompt 3 is an elemental prompt for Fiscal Year July-June. The survey requires circ stats for

Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I will select the radio button below:

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4. Prompt 4 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Icat2 (Item Category 2). The survey requires

circulation stats for children’s materials for Fiscal Year 2019. The State Library uses Item

Category 2 to categorize adult, children, and young adult items, so I will select JUVENILE and

YA:

Note: The accuracy of report results depends on how your library catalogs adult, juvenile, and

young adult items. Use only if your library consistently uses Item Category 2 policies to

distinguish adult, juvenile, or young adult items. Your library may use another item policy, such

as Item Category 1 or Home Location, to categorize adult, juvenile, or young adult items.

5. Prompt 5 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Current Location (Current Location). I do not

need to exclude any current locations from the report’s results. I will leave this prompt blank:

6. Prompt 6 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Item Library (Item Library). I do not need to

limit my results to certain item libraries so I will leave this prompt blank:

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7. Prompt 7 is a qualification prompt that allows you to create your own transactional date range.

I selected a date range using Prompt 3, so I will leave this prompt blank. However, you would

create your own date range (instead of Prompt 3), for example, if the survey requires Fiscal

Year August-July instead of July-June.

8. Prompts 8-13 are for additional item policies including Item Type, Home Location, and Item

Categories. The survey asks for all circ transactions for children’s physical items. The

Wyoming State Library uses Item Category 2 to categorize children items, so I do not to filter

any other item policies. I will leave prompts 8-13 blank.

Here are my report’s results:

Number of circ transactions for physical

children’s items for Fiscal Year 2019.

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Total Physical Circulation for FY2019

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Station Library. Station Library is the library in

which the transaction took place at or “Checkout”’ library. Select library codes for your library

system. You can select items by double-clicking. I will select WSL for this prompt:

2. Prompt 2 is an elemental prompt for Trans Stat Month. The survey requires circulation

statistics for all of Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I will leave this prompt blank:

3. Prompt 3 is an elemental prompt for Fiscal Year July-June. The survey requires circ stats for

Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I will select the “FY2019 STATS” radio button:

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4. I don’t need to limit my results any further because the survey requires the number of circ

transactions for all physical items so I will leave prompts 4-13 blank.

Note: With this report, you do not need to worry about excluding circ transactions for accounts

with library use profiles, such as LOSTCARD, DISPLAY, and MISSING. These transactions are

automatically excluded from this report’s results.

User Counts by User Profile (excludes library use profiles)

This report counts the number of registered library users based on User Library and broken down

by User Profile. This report automatically excludes user accounts with library use profiles, such as

LOSTCARD, DISPLAY, and MISSING. For a complete list of library use profiles, visit this site.

Also, you have the option to limit the report’s results by User Created Date and User Profile.

This report can provide the following statistics for the survey:

Number of registered borrowers at the end of FY2019

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for User Library. Select libraries for your library system. You

can select items by double-clicking. For the survey, I will select Wyoming State Library:

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2. Prompt 2 is an elemental prompt for User Profile. The survey is looking for all registered

users, and library use profiles are automatically excluded from the report’s results. So, I can

leave this prompt blank:

3. Prompt 3 is a value prompt for User Created Date. If you do not enter a date for this prompt,

all users created as of yesterday will be included in the report’s results. You have the option to

limit the User Created Date to the end of the fiscal year needed for the survey or earlier. For

example, if the survey requires stats at the end of Fiscal Year July-June 2019, you would enter

“6/30/2019” in the text field for this prompt. The survey requires stats at the end of Fiscal Year

July-June 2019, so I will enter “6/30/2019” in the text box:

Note: Analytics currently does not support “snapshot” reporting. In other words, even if you enter a

User Created Date for the end of the fiscal year, any users deleted from the database since that

date up to the day before you run the report will not be included in the report’s results. Therefore,

for the most accurate results, run user count reports the day after the end of the fiscal year. For

example, if you need stats for Fiscal Year July-June 2020, you would run the report 7/1/2020. This

is only the case for user count and item count stats. Historical circ stats are not affected by when

you run the report. . If you are unable to run this report on July 1, you can schedule the

report to run on this date and have the results sent to your email.

Here are my report’s results:

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There are other reports in this folder that you can use for surveys.

Number of serial titles

This report is an alternative to the Item and Title counts by Item Type (Create your own custom

group) report for obtaining stats for the number of serial titles. For this report, I created a custom

group with two categories. The first category Serials includes item types typically used for serials or

periodicals including BOUNDPER, JUVMAG, NEWSPAPER, PERIODICAL, and YAMAG. The other

category “All other item types” includes every item type except the ones in the Serials category.

1. Prompt 1 is an elemental prompt for Item Library Code. Select codes for your library system.

For the survey example, I will select WSL.

2. Prompt 2 is a value prompt for Item Created Date. The survey requires stats at the end of

Fiscal Year July-June 2019, so I entered “6/30/2019” in the text box:

4. Prompt 3 is an elemental prompt for Item Status. Item Status refers to the item’s Current

Location. Because discards have been removed from the collection permanently, I will exclude

Item Status DISCARD from the report’s results:

Number of

registered users

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Here are my report’s results:

Note: This report’s results will be accurate only if your library catalogs serials using the item types

defined in the Serials category: BOUNDPER, JUVMAGE, NEWSPAPER, PERIODICAL, and

YAMAG. Double-check with your technical services department. Also, your library might have print

serial subscriptions for titles not in WYLDcat.

Total Circulation by Item Type (Create your own custom group)

This report counts the number of circulation transactions (Checkouts, Renewals, and Use Item

transactions) for a selected month, selected Fiscal Year July-June, or you can create your date

range. (For example, you would create your own date range if the survey requires Fiscal Year

August-July instead of July-June). This report only contains circ stats for physical items or those that

are in Symphony (WYLDcat). Stats for State-licensed content, such as RBDigital and Cloud Library

are not available in Analytics. For these stats, visit our libguide page .

Like the Item and Title counts by Item Type report, these categories work like filters. Therefore,

only those item types you select will be included in the report’s results. All other non-selected item

types will be excluded. Also, you can select the same item type in more than one category.

You are not required to make selections for any category; however, selections must be made for at

least one category in order for the report to run. If you do not make any selections for a custom group

(category), you will receive this error message:

Number of Print Serial

Subscriptions

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The survey in the example above did not require circulation broken down by categories, such as Print

Materials and Video Materials. Therefore, I used the Total Circulation by Item Category 2 report

instead.

If you have any questions about reports in the Library Survey folder, please contact WYLD support at

support@wyldnetwork.org. For questions about the annual Wyoming Public Library Survey, please

contact Thomas Ivie, Research & Statistics Librarian at thomas.ivie@wyo.gov .