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FAST FACTS
C&RL News, October 2004
Vol. 65, No. 9
by Gary Pattillo
School-age population
Fourteen states in the United States experienced an increase in their elementary school-age population (children between 5 and 13) between 2000 and 2003. This was contrary to the national trend in which the total number of elementary school-age children declined by 274,000. Texas (125,000), Florida (88,000), and Arizona (66,000)—the latter two, traditionally thought of as retirement havens —led the way in increases. North Carolina (36,000) and Nevada (35,000) followed.
U.S. Census Bureau. "Census Bureau Estimates Number of Adults, Older People and School-Age Children in States," March 10, 2004. www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html. August 23, 2004
Google News sources
Google searches more than 7,000 sources for its Google News site, but only ten sources account for 62 percent of the top stories, according to a recent study. Reuters and the New York Times were the top two most cited sources. Two other heavily cited sources are Voice of America and Xinhua News Agency, government agencies of the United States and the Peoples’ Republic of China, each accounting for seven percent of all top stories.
Vin Crosbie, "Google News Spiders 7,000 Sources, But Uses Only a Few," E-Media tidbits, August 2, 2004, Poynteronline. www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=69425 and www.digitaldeliverance.com/MT/archives/000442.html. August 25, 2004
Data permanency
Shelf lives of some data storage technology: videotape and film, ten years; floppy disks, ten to thirty years; recordable DVDs and CDs, thirty to one hundred years; stone carvings and treated paper, several centuries.
Tricia Bishop, "As photos fade, texts crumble, U.S. archives tries to save data," Baltimore Sun, Telegraph section, page 1A. August 4, 2004
SAT scores
The College Board announced that the average SAT verbal scores this year rose one point to 508, following a three-point verbal score gain last year. Average math scores fell one point from last year to 518, though the overall math trend remained positive. Average math scores are up 14 points compared to ten years ago. The number of SAT takers among the high school class of 2004 rose to an all-time high of 1,419,007. This marks the 14th year in a row that the total number of exam-takers has risen.
College Board, "SAT scores hold steady for college-bound seniors," www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,3183,37478,00.html. August 31, 2004.
Geography in liberal arts colleges
Ninety-three percent of liberal arts colleges do not grant degrees in geography, according to Mark D. Bjelland, an assistant professor of geography at Gustavus Adolphus College. Sixty-six percent of public research/doctoral universities, however, offer undergraduate degrees in geography.
Mark D. Bjelland, "A Place for Geography in the Liberal Arts College?" The Professional Geographer, Vol. 56 No. 3, 2004, pp. 326–36.
Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff.lib.unc.edu
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