ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Fast Facts

Ann Viles

→ Students and faculty using libraries less

A recent survey of 3,200 students and faculty by the Digital Library Federation and Outsell, Inc. found that “more than one-third of the respondents overall and half of those in fields such as business and engineering now use the library less than they did just two years ago.”

Daniel Greenstein and Leigh Watson Healy, "National Survey Documents Effects of Internet Use on Libraries," CUR Issues 27 (May/June 2002). http://www.clir.Org/pubs/issues/issues27.html#national. May 5, 2002

→ Hyperlinks half-life approximately 55 months

After a period of 20 months, 18.8% of the total nonredundant URLs used in three online biochemistry courses are extinct. Of the 515 total URLs, 18.4% of 234 “.edu” domain links are broken, 42.5% of 73 “.com” links, and 11.7% of 60 “.org” links. The researchers “estimate a half-life for these science education hyperlinks of approximately 55 months.”

John Markwell and David W. Brooks, "Broken Links: Just How Rapidly Do Science Education Hyperlinks Go Extinct?" http://www-class.unl.edu/biochem/url/broken_links.html. May 3, 2002

→ Research libraries develop Web portals

At least six of 77 ARL Libraries responding to a survey in Febnrary 2002 reported having library portals, which provide “1) search engine tools that offer the user the capability to search across multiple sources and integrate the results of those searches, and 2) at least one kind of supporting service for the user (such as requesting retrieval or delivery of non-digital material, online reference help, etc.).” Eight other respondents expect to have such a portal operational within the year and “over half of them are in the planning process.”

"Portal Functionality Provided by ARL Libraries: Preliminary Results of an ARL Survey," ARL Access & Technology Program Scholars Portal, April 11, 2002. http://www.arl.org/access/scholarsportal/prelim.html. May 5, 2002

→ Administrators' salaries: 2001-2002

Median salaries for directors of library services at all higher education institutions increased 5.9% from $63,228 in 2000-01 to $66,990 in 2001-02. Median salaries for acquisitions librarians increased to $46,169, chief technical-services librarians to $47,563, and chief public-services librarians to $48,998.

"Fact File: Median Salaries of College Administrators by Type of Institution, 2000-1," Chronicle of Higher Education, March 16, 2001: A32; "Medium Salaries of College Administrators by Type of Institution, 2001-2," Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 12, 2002: A33

→ Library staff-to-student ratio increases

The latest edition of the Department of Education’s Digest of Education Statistics reports a rise in the library staff-to-student ratio in college and university libraries from 137 students per staff member in 1987-88 to 150 students per staff member in 1997-98. During the same period, library operating expenditures per student rose in constant dollars from $419 to $450.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics, 2001, NCES 2002-130, by Thomas D. Snyder. Production Manager, Charlene M. Hoffman. Washington, D.C.: 2002. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp7pubids2002130. May 5, 2002

→ 20,000 titles in Internet Public Library

The Internet Public Libraiy Online Texts Collection provides access to more than 20,000 full-text titles by author, title, or Dewey Decimal Classification.

The Internet Public Library Online Texts Collection, http://www.ipl.org/reading/books/. May 5, 2002

Ann Vites is coordinator of reference and instruction at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu