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Association of College & Research Libraries

Ann Viles: Fast Facts

Electronic theses and dissertations for sale

Contentville.com now has an agreement to sell both electronic and printed versions of dissertations from Bell & Howell’s archive of more than 1 million titles. “Bell & Howell acquired UMI, the firm that had been responsible for microfilming and storing the vast majority of U.S. dissertations, about 14 years ago.”

(J. Linn Allen, "On-Iine Dissertation Sales No Academic Matter to Surprised Authors," Chicago Tribüne, August 23, 2000. Newspaper Source. EBSCO Publishing. September 2, 2000)

Average faculty salaries in library Science

According to the College and University Personnel Association, average salaries for library science faculty on 9- or 10-month contracts last year were $43,401 in private institutions and $54,121 in public institutions. Average salaries for faculty in Computer and information sciences were $58,260 and $66,240.

("Average Faculty Salaries in Selected Fields at 4-Year Institutions, 1999-2000," The Chronicle of Higher Education AImanac 2000-2001. http://chronicle.com/free/almanac/2000/almanac.htm, password required. September 1, 2000)

Digital dictionary profits exceed $1 million

Profits from Houghton Mifflin’s licensing of its digital dictionary may exceed $1 million this year, “more than 10 percent of the earnings from the company’s trade and reference division.”

(David D. Kirkpatrick, "Dictionary Publishers Going Digital: A Low Margin Business Sees Profits on the Web," New York Times, August 21, 2000, natl. ed.: C 1.)

ASIS becomes ASIST

Following a ballot vote of the membership on April 28, the American Society for Information Science is changing its name to the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

(Eugene Garfield, "President’s Page, Bulletin of The American Society for Information Science, 26, no. 1 June/ July 2000. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/June-00/president_s_page.html. September 1, 2000)

The law of Surfing

Xerox PARC has patented “methodology for dynamically reconfiguring a Web site for every user, based on the kinds of pages the user views.” Bernardo Huberman, research fellow at Xerox PARC, theorizes that the “law of surfing [describes] patterns of Web surfing based on the type of site involved [and] can be used to predict a person’s online behavior, much like the laws of physics.”

(Robert E. Calem, "Special Report: Research Labs Bring New Life to Internet," ZDNet Interactive Week Online, Aug. 28,2000. http://www.zdnet.eom/intweek/stories/news/0.4164,2619863.00.html. September 2, 2000)

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Math journal prices

Subscription prices for mathematics journals rose an average of 9 percent from 1998 to 1999.

("Journal Price Survey: 250 Selected Journals," American Mathematical Society, http://www.ams.org/membership/journal-survey.html. August 26,2000)

British coin celebrates public libraries

An article in the Herald (Glasgow) about Britain’s newly minted library coin, Claims that “Scots still use libraries more than anyone eise in the UK.” Scotland s 800 libraries handle about 50 million loan transactions per year, and “more [Scots] go to libraries than football matches on Saturdays.”

(Anne Johnstone, "Air of Change as Libraries’ Profile Rises: 50p Coin Is Struck to Commemorate 150 Years of Public Lending," Herald (Glasgow), August 30, 2000. LEXIS NEXIS Academic Universe. Sept. 2, 2000)

Thanks to Mike Hans on, reference librarian at Western Wisconsin Technical College, for bis contributions and suggestions.

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