ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Fast Facts

Ann Viles

Freshmen satisfaction with libraries

A new survey of first-year college students developed by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA and the Policy Center on the First Year of College at Brevard College contains at least two questions directly related to libraries. When the nearly 25,000 students completing the survey during spring 2002 were asked about their satisfaction with various campus services and facilities, 81 percent responded that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with “library facilities and services.” When asked to “assess how much they have changed in several areas since entering college,” 49.5 percent indicated that their “library research skills’’ were “stronger” or “much stronger.”

Linda J. Sax, et al. Findings from the 2002 Administration of Your First College Year (YFCY): National Aggregates. Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, December 2002. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ heri/yfcy/yfcy_report_year3.pdf. Jan. 2,2003

State of preservation programs

A major study in 2001 funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services “to assess the state of preservation programs in American academic libraries” finds that “preservation expenditures as a percentage of the library’s total budget are below 3 percent for all institutional groups.”

Anne R. Kenney and Deirdre C. Stam, The State of Preservation Programs in American College and Research Libraries: Building a Common Understanding and Action Agenda, Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, Dec. 2002. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub111/pub111 .pdf. Jan. 6,2003

Usage of electronic journals at Drexel

A survey of faculty and doctoral students at Drexel University was conducted during May and June 2002 to determine the effects of the library’s “migration to a (mostly) allelectronic journal collection” found that “while 42 percent of faculty reading is from library-provided articles, faculty still rely heavily on readings from personal subscriptions.” Doctoral students reported almost 76 percent of the articles they read are provided by the library—11.5 percent of these from print subscriptions, 76.9 percent from electronic subscriptions, and 11.5 percent from interlibrary loan or document delivery. Donald W. King and Carol H. Montgomery, "After Migration to an Electronic Journal Collection: Impact on Faculty and Doctoral Students," D-Lib Magazine 9, no. 12 (Dec. 2002). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december02/king/ 12king.html. Jan. 6, 2003

Library and information science education programs

According to the 23rd annual statistical report on library and information (LIS) education, published by the Association for Library and Information Science Education (AUSE), total enrollment in the 56 ALA-accredited master’s degree programs increased from 21,040 in fall 2000 to 22,883 in fall 2001, an increase of 8.8 percent. Total enrollment in degree programs (bachelor’s, ALA-accredited master’s in library science, master’s in information science, other master’s, post-master’s, and doctoral) increased 12.8 percent from 17,759 to 20,033-Only 4.7 percent of graduates from both ALA-accredited master’s in library science and doctoral degree programs were Black.

Evelyn H. Daniel and Jerry D. Saye, eds., Library and Information Science Statistical Report, 2002, Association for Library and Information Science Education. http://www.ils.unc.edu/ALISE/2001/Contents.htm. Jan. 6, 2003

Ban unsolicited e-mail

The results of an online Harris Poll conducted between November 22 and December 2, 2002, finds that the percentage of those online who are very annoyed by “spamming or getting unsolicited e-mail from people who do not know you” has increased from 49 percent to 80 percent in the past two and a half years, and 74 percent “favor making mass spamming illegal.”

Humphrey Taylor, "Large Majority of Those Online Wants Spamming Banned," Harris Po//#1, Jan. 3,2003. http:// www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=348. Jan. 6, 2003

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