ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Fast Facts

Gary Pattillo

→ Hubble space telescope

Since April 25, 1990, the Hubble space telescope has delivered more than 13 terabytes of data. That’s enough to fill more than 22,000 CD-ROMs. Hubble’s digital archive delivers 10 to 60 gigabytes of data a day to astronomers and cosmologists all over the world. Astronomers have published more than 4,000 scientific papers based on Hubble results. It has made about 600,000 exposures and probed more than 25,000 astronomical targets, traveling more than 2.2 billion miles in its orbit to date. As of this writing, the future of the Hubble space telescope project is uncertain.

NASA, hubble.nasa.gov and Space Telescope Science Institute, hubblesite.org/. February 23, 2004

→ Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web

Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web is a project of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, linking online exhibitions created by libraries, archives, historical societies, and museums. With its most recent update, the site will list more than 2,950 library-related exhibits from more than 25 countries. The searchable Web site had nearly 16,000 visitor sessions in 2003 and is usually among the top ten most-viewed online resources on the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ Web site. Diane Shaw, a librarian at the Smithsonian Institution, has maintained the site since 1998. Andrea Bean Hough at the University of Houston originally launched the project in 1995.

Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web, www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/Online-Exhibitions/. February 23, 2004

→ Internet search engine use

A report from Nielsen//NetRatings has estimated that 114.5 million Americans used a search engine during January 2004. That number represents 36 percent of the population and 79 percent of active Internet users. The top five search engines for that month were Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, AOL Search, and Ask Jeeves. Google topped the list with more than 59 million users representing 39 percent of active Internet users. A survey of search engine users found the most important features were finding relevant information, getting credible results, and getting results quickly. The same report counted Netflix, Inc. as the number one advertiser, with more than 3.8 billion ad impressions in January 2004.

NetRatings, Inc. "One in Three Americans Use a Search Engine According to Nielsen//NetRatings," www.n¡elsen- netratings.com/pr/pr_040223_us.pdf. February 26, 2004

→ Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble

Bames&Noble.com has posted sales of nearly $425 million for the year 2003, an increase of 587 percent since it first launched in 1998. Meanwhile, Amazon.com reported 2003 sales of $2.27 billion for its North American media segment alone, which includes books, music, DVDs, magazines and software, but not its other stores, such as electronics and apparel. Total 2003 revenue for Amazon.com was reported to be $5.26 billion. Barnes&Noble.com had a net loss of $45 million, while Amazon.com posted its first annual profit of $35 million.

Jim Milliot. Publishers Weekly, February 2, 2004, v251 i5, pp.5,7

→ Internet host and domain statistics

There are now more than 233 million host machines on the Internet, according to the latest survey by the Internet Systems Consortium. A host is a domain name that has a specific IP address associated with it. The most common top-level domains associated with the hosts are .net, .com, .jp, and .edu.

Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. "Internet Domain Survey, Jan. 2004," www.isc.org/. February 26, 2004

Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff. lib. unc.edu