In order to know who to pay, our Survey Operations team carry out data collection exercises in licensed organisations to find out what is being photocopied, scanned or digitally re-used. We use this data to help us to allocate licence fees for distribution to copyright holders. To see FAQs about CLA surveys click here.
In each licensed sector we use specially designed methodology to collect data to form a statistically valid representation of the publications that are copied under the licence.
There are several distinct processes, each suited to its particular sector, that we use to collect data about photocopying, scanning and digital re-use.
- In the education sector (schools, FE and HE) and also in the NHS, recordkeeping is used to collect copying evidence over a period of weeks. In recording photocopied pages, participants identify the publications, with numbers of pages copied and number of copies made. The data is collected by the CLA field team, validated and processed prior to inclusion in a distribution, where revenue is allocated to the total number of copy pages for each title collected over a three-year period. Where digital re-use and website content supplied by participating publishers is available within the Schools Licence , participants are required to report bibliographic details and levels of usage via a log-in system.
- In higher education, a census of electronic returns of all scanned data under CLA’s licence is reported, with revenue distributed based on the total number of pages scanned multiplied by the students on the relevant course. Since the new Comprehensive Digital Higher Education Licence was launched in August 2008, those institutions who have taken this licence will add digital data to their reporting.
- In the business and public sectors (government and public bodies) we use two systems known as Quota Sampling by Availability (QSA) and Refined Record Keeping (RRK). Within a rolling programme, selected participants are asked to provide CLA either with an ‘Information Audit’ return giving a list of their books and serial subscriptions, or participate in a ‘Categorical Research Survey’ providing copying volumes within 20 publication categories and reporting actual titles copied over a period of time. This ‘Categorical Research Survey’ consists of a copying diary and face-to-face interviews. The information from the survey is used to weight the selection of titles from the ‘Information Audit’ returns. Since the introduction of digital licences in these sectors, information on digital re-use is being collected as well as photocopying and scanning. Alternatively, over a short period of time, participants may need to record and report bibliographic details and levels of usage photocopying, scanning and digital re-use of copyright material by either completeing details via a log format (hard copy or electronic) or via a log-in system.
Organisations to be surveyed are chosen by random selection in a continuous rotational and geographic programme.
