Many thanks to those people who responded to our call for input to the collections sector Service Industries Survey Review by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Your responses were incorporated into the Collections Council’s submission to the ABS, and complemented our separate analysis of the ABS questionnaires used for Museums (and Galleries), Public Libraries and Public Libraries / Archives.

Collections sector feedback included the following points:

• The sector values the work of the ABS, particularly the information provided by the existing Service Industries Surveys.
• Libraries are content with the range of questions asked in the relevant questionnaires and with the way the ABS determines the Public Libraries ‘target population’ to receive the questionnaires. Some new question elements were suggested to capture information on the provision of e-referencing services, the purchase or leasing of electronic learning resources, the accurate measurement of virtual visits, and workforce data.
• Archives are mainly concerned about the ABS reporting only the eight state / territory and national archives, and would like to see an expanded survey scope that includes smaller archival organisations to receive the Public Libraries / Archives questionnaire.
• Museums and Galleries are mainly concerned that the use of the Australian Business Register and the Collections Australia Network lists do not adequately represent this collecting domain.
• Eagerness to complete survey forms online.

Collections Council analysis of the ABS questionnaires included the following points:

• It would be valuable to revisit some of the definitions used in the collections sector Service Industries Surveys e.g. ‘archive’, ‘loan’, ‘digital’ terms and series counts (e.g. parent and child numbering of articles).
•  A comparison of questions asked across the three questionnaires revealed similarities and differences that could be smoothed toward the production of one questionnaire for the whole collections sector. This would be aided by online delivery of the questionnaire.
• It appears that a high quality single database which has a well defined scope of relevant organisations within Australia’s collecting sector would provide a useful data source for the sector to monitor change in the sector over time.  Such a database would be of use for any entity to use, including the ABS, to underpin surveys about any part of the Australian collections sector. The Collections Council has proposed building and hosting such a database called OzCOD – the Australian Collecting Organisations Database. This project requires independent funding.

The Collections Council has had the opportunity to reinforce the points made in the submission through face-to-face meetings with several key ABS personnel.

More generally we note and support the aim of the ABS to achieve more efficient survey processes, and particularly support the move to further align ‘administrative’ data sets as checks against ABS data collections. We applaud the aim of the ABS to include user input in their review processes, and have valued the opportunity to contribute to this Review of the collections sector Service Industries Surveys.

The Collections Council has offered to continue advising the ABS on collections sector data needs, particularly for Service Industries Surveys.