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FAST FACTS
C&RL News, May 2005
Vol. 66, No. 5
by Gary Pattillo
Google, library books, and scanning
A single book-scanning machine used by Google.com would take 1,636 machine-years to scan the approximately 29 million volumes of the Library of Congress. The cost would be nearly $300 million. The estimate is based on 30 minutes and $10 per book.
Wade Roush, “The Infinite Library,” Technology Review.com May 2005. www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/05/issue/feature_library.asp April 13, 2005
Women in higher education
Women represented 62 percent of students age 40 or older for the years 1999 to 2000. The percentage of students who were women among students of traditional ages (18 to 23) also continued to rise, up to 55 percent in 2000. Overall degree attainment among the younger U.S. population (25 to 29) is also now dominated by women: 31 percent compared to 26 percent for men.
K. Peter and L. Horn (2005). Gender Differences in Participation and Completion of Undergraduate Education and How They Have Changed Over Time (NCES 2005–169). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005169.pdf April 14, 2005
Library and Information Science: Most prolific U.S. universities
Of the top 100 federally funded U.S. universities, Indiana University ranked first in number of LIS papers produced from 1999 through 2004. They published 147 papers. The University of Illinois-Urbana ranked second with 111 papers. The University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, and University of Pittsburgh ranked third through fifth, respectively.
“Library and Information Science: Most Prolific U.S. Universities, 1999–2003,” in-cites SCI-BYTES, What’s New in Research: April 11, 2005. in-cites.com/research/2005/april_11_2005-1.html
Internet filtering in China
“China’s Internet filtering regime is the most sophisticated effort of its kind in the world. Compared to similar efforts in other states, China’s filtering regime is pervasive, sophisticated, and effective. It comprises multiple levels of legal regulation and technical control.” That is the finding of a new study by the OpenNet Initiative. About 10 percent of e-mail tested was inaccessible in 2004–05. Approximately 7 percent of human rights Web sites and 8 percent of sex education sites were effectively filtered.
“Internet Filtering in China in 2004–2005: A Country Study,” April 14, 2005. The OpenNet Initiative. www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/china/ONI_China_Country_Study.pdf
British Library e-texts
“Texts in Context is a rich and unusual collection of over 400 British Library texts. You can find menus for medieval banquets and handwritten recipes scribbled inside book covers. You can browse the first English dictionary ever written and explore the secret language of the Georgian underworld. You can study the East India Company’s shopping lists and practice sentences from colonial phrasebooks. You can learn smugglers’ songs, listen to rare dialect recordings, and examine the logbooks of 17th century trading ships.”
Texts in Context. bllearning.co.uk/live/text/ April 14, 2005
Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff.lib.unc.edu
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Fast Facts
