ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Fast Facts

Ann Viles

ₒ Annual salaries increase

The Special Libraries Association’s 2001 Salary Survey reports increased earnings for information professionals in Canada and the United States. The average (mean) salary for information professionals as of April 1, 2001, was $58,930 in the United States and $57,904 (Canadian dollars) in Canada.

2001 Salary Survey, Special Libraries Association, http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/researchforum/ salarysurveys/salsur2001/index.cfm. Mar. 4, 2002

ₒ Information architecture

Library and information science schools are now offering courses and programs in information architecture, which is defined by David Robins, a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, as “the design of user experience for Web-based environments.”

David Robins, "Information Architecture in Library and Information Science Curricula," Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 28, no. 2 (Dec.-Jan. 2002). http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/ Jan-02/robins.html. Mar. 2, 2002

ₒ Canterbury Tales to join Gutenberg Bible on the Web

Keio University in Tokyo and the British Library, whose Gutenberg Bible site received a million visitors in six months, are producing digital images of the first and second editions of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The quality of the 4000 x 4000 pixel images, which will be accessible on the Internet, is expected to enable “detailed typographical analyses.”

"Medieval Pilgrimage Coming to the Net," British Library Press & Public Relations, Feb. 26, 2002. http:// www.bl.uk/cgi-bin/press.cgi?story=1203 Mar. 2, 2002

ₒ Internet use increases

Using data gathered in the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, a study by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration found that “the rate of growth in Internet use in the United States is currently two million new Internet users per month.” There were 143 million Internet users (53 9 percent of the population) in the United States in September 2001, compared to 116.5 million in August 2000 (44.5 percent). Usage by individuals in the “lowest-income households (those earning less than $15,000 per year)” increased at an annual rate of 25 percent, while usage by “individuals in the highest-income households (those earning $75,000 per year or more)” increased at a rate of only 11 percent. Among young adults (18-24 year old) attending school or college, 85 percent use the Internet, “compared to 51.5 percent of those who are not in school.”

A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet,National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Feb. 2002. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/index.html. Mar. 4, 2002

ₒ 80 percent of Internet users submit search requests

Jupiter Media Metrix’s ratings report 80 percent of the “estimated 110 million Internet users online in the United States at work or at home made some type of search request” during January 2002.

Danny Sullivan, "Jupiter Media Metrix Search Engine Ratings," Search Engine Watch, Feb. 19, 2002. http:// searchenginewatch.com/reports/mediametrix.html. Mar. 2, 2002

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