STATISTICAL SURVEY METHODS: THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE
| Date | 01 March 1988 |
| Pages | 14-21 |
| Published date | 01 March 1988 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054906 |
| Author | Ronald A. Pluck |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
STATISTICAL SURVEY METHODS:
THE BRITISH EXPERIENCE*
by Ronald A. Pluck
Introduction
The impetus for the establishment of a scheme that would protect authors and
publishers from unauthorised use of copyright material came in part from a ten year
struggle (successfully concluded in 1982 with the inception of the Public Lending
Right scheme) to obtain payment for authors for copyright material lent to the public
through public libraries. As photocopying machines became more readily available
so copyright material became more vulnerable to unauthorised use in part or in whole.
An area where photocopying was thought to be particularly extensive was that of
education,
and within that area the largest users are the Local Education Authorities.
As this represented an area that was relatively well documented and the associations
of local authorities were co-operative in this matter, it was thought to be the point
at which the task of collecting payment for the photocopying of copyright material
should begin.
The first step was to form some estimate of the size of the activity. To this end a
small sample survey of schools in Scotland was undertaken which suggested that,
in the United Kingdom, something of the order of 100 million sheets of photocopying
of copyright material was made annually in local authority schools, and some
5,000-10,000 authors were involved.
The second step was to decide whether a transactional or collective licensing basis
was to be used to determine payment. Further, if a collective licensing scheme was
to be established, how should the cost of a collective licence be estimated? It was
soon decided that, as some 30,000 educational establishments were involved, a
complete recording of the detail of all photocopying was not an economic process
but that a collective licensing scheme based on a sample survey should be set up.
If a sample survey was to be used to determine local authority liability, it was also
necessary to collect the data needed to distribute the proceeds of the scheme to
authors and publishers.
Questions of Design
Once the decision had been taken to establish a sample survey of the extent of
photocopying in local authority educational units it was necessary to obtain answers
to the following questions before the sample survey could be designed.
(1) What was the nature of the population of photocopying in Local Education
Authority units?
(a) What determined whether or not photocopying took place?
(i) Was a local authority policy decision involved?
(ii) Was a function of capitation1 expenditure influencing the decision
to photocopy?
*This paper was first presented to IFRRO 14, October 1987.
1Capitation expenditure is a lump sum of money given by the local authority to the headteacher of
each school annually for the purchase of textbooks, small items of equipment, etc
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