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FAST FACTS
C&RL News, November 2002
Vol. 63 No. 10
by Ann Viles
E-journal access
A survey of public service librarians completed recently by the ACRL/STS Subject and Bibliographic Access to Science Materials Committee found that using “database-driven, dynamically generated web lists” to provide access to e-journals received “the highest percentage of ‘preferred’ votes among its users.” More than 68% of the institutions represented in the survey provided access using separate catalog records for e-journals, but only 19.5% of the respondents from those institutions preferred this method. More than 73% provided access using a single catalog record for both the electronic and print versions of journals, a method preferred by only 36.4% of the respondents from those institutions. Although only 38.3% of the institutions used database-driven applications to provide access, this method was preferred by 47.8% of the respondents from those institutions.
Subject and Bibliographic Access to Science Materials Committee, ACRL Science and Technology Section, “Perceived Successes and Failures of Science and Technology E-Journal Access: A Comparative Study,” Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship No. 35 (Summer 2002). http://www.istl.org/02-summer/article1.html. Sept. 29, 2002
Information access on campus
Preliminary results of a major survey of college and university students and faculty completed by Outsell, Inc. for the Digital Library Federation show “that graduate students are most likely to pursue information while in physical libraries, undergraduates in their residences, and faculty, by a large margin, in their offices.” Sixty-four percent of all respondents reported “that their current information needs for research are available through their own library’s Web site.”
Daniel Greenstein and Leigh Watson Healy, “Print and Electronic Information: Shedding New Light on Campus Use,” EDUCAUSE Review 37 (Sept./Oct. 2002): 16–17
Digital library programs
According to a January 2001 survey completed by 21 academic libraries for a recently published study by the Digital Library Federation and the Council on Library and Information Resources, “the principal costs for digital libraries, based on average 2000 cost, [were] commercial content (40%), equipment and infrastructure (23%), digital library personnel (18%), and content creation (7%).”
Daniel Greenstein and Suzanne E. Thorin, The Digital Library: A Biography, Washington, DC: Digital Library Federation and Council on Library and Information Resources, Sept. 2002. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub109/pub109.pdf. Sept. 29, 2002
E-book readers
Seventy-three percent of the respondents to an online survey of e-book readers, conducted in spring 2002 by KnowBetter.com and EbookWeb.org, rated themselves as proficient with computers, 93% read e-books for leisure, 41.6% used them for reference, 29% for work, and 29% for education.
“Results of the Spring 2002 Survey of Ebook Readers,” KnowBetter.com, Aug. 8, 2002. http://www.knowbetter.com/ebook/surveys/2002spring_results.asp#. Oct. 6, 2002
Students prefer the Internet for research
A survey of 754 students ages 12 to 17, recently completed by the research firm Greenfield Online for the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found, “For many teens, the Internet has replaced the library as the primary tool for doing research for significant projects. Almost all online teens use the Internet to do research for school—94% report using the Internet for this purpose.” Seventy-one percent rely mostly on the Internet for research, 24% rely on library resources, and 4% use both equally. Fifty-eight percent use Web sites specifically designed for their school or class. “Students cite the ease and speed of online research as their main reasons for relying on the Web instead of the library.”
Amanda Lenhart, Maya Simon, and Mike Graziano, “The Internet and Education: Findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project,” Pew Internet and American Life Project, September 1, 2001. September 3, 2001. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=39&Section=ReportLevel2&Field=Level2ID&ID=230
Average faculty salaries in library science
According to the College and University Personnel Association for Human Resources, average salaries for library science faculty on nine- or ten-month contracts last year were $45,417 in private institutions and $54,871 in public institutions. Compared to last year’s report, this is an increase of 4.6% in private institutions and 1.3% in public institutions. Average salaries for faculty in computer and information sciences increased from $58,260 to $60,914 (4.5%) and from $66,240 to $67,988 (2.6%). Library science faculty salaries were 23% lower than the average for all fields in private institutions last year ($58,700) and 7% lower than in public institutions ($59,123).
“Average Faculty Salaries in Selected Fields at 4-Year Institutions, 2000-1,” Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac 2001-2. http://chronicle.com/weekly/almanac/2001/nation/0102703.htm. Sept. 3, 2001. Last year’s report: http://chronicle.com/free/almanac/2000/almanac.htm, Sept. 1, 2000
Illiteracy increasing
A recent study of literacy in the United Kingdom by Professor Loreto Todd at the University of Ulster found “up to 15 percent of young people aged 15 to 21 are functionally illiterate” compared to 2 percent reported by school inspectors in 1912 to be “unable to read or write.”
“Illiteracy worse now than before WWI,” ITN. http://itn.co.uk/news/20010818/britain/07illiterate.shtml, Sept. 3, 2001
$10 million map acquired by Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has paid $500,000 of the $10 million needed to acquire the Waldseemuller map from Germany. The 1507 map is “the only surviving copy of the first map to bear the name of America . . . [and] is thought to be the first cartographic depiction of the Americas as a land mass separate from Asia.”
John Noble Wilford, “Map That Named America May Call It Home,” New York Times, September 4, 2001. LEXIS NEXIS Academic Universe. Sept. 4, 2001
Internet access worldwide
Home-based Internet access worldwide has increased to 459 million people, according to the Second Quarter 2001 Global Internet Trends Report from Nielsen/NetRatings, an increase of 30 million over the previous quarter. The United States and Canada account for 40 percent of the total.
“Worldwide Adoption of Internet, PCs Continues to Increase,” Cyber Atlas. http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/geographics/article/0,,5911_875361,00.html. Sept. 4, 2001
About the Author
Ann Viles is coordinator of reference and instruction at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu
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Fast Facts
