ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Fast Facts

Ann Viles

Speed of the Slammer Worm

According to a technical report issued by the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), the Sapphire/Slammer computer worm, which “infected at least 75,000 hosts” on January 25, “was the fastest computer worm in history. As it began spreading throughout the Internet, it doubled in size every 8.5 seconds. It infected more than 90 percent of vulnerable hosts within 10 minutes.”

David Moore, et al., "The Spread of the Sapphire/Slammer Worm," Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, Jan. 30, 2003. http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2003/sapphire/sapphire.html. Feb. 4,2003

SLA salary survey

The Special Libraries Association’s 2002 Salary Survey reports increased earnings for information professionals in both Canada and the United States. The average (mean) salary for information professionals as of April 1, 2002, was $60,583 in the United States and $59,328 (Canadian dollars) in Canada.

2002 SLA Salary Survey, Special Libraries Association, http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/researchforum/ salarysurveys/salsur2002/index.cfm. Feb. 2, 2003

Reliance on Internet information

Two recent reports address the perceived importance and reliability of Internet information. A Pew Internet Project study finds that “69 percent of Americans expect to be able to find reliable, up-to-date news online,” and 67 percent “expect to find reliable health care information online.”

John B. Horrigan and Lee Rainie, Counting on the Internet. Pew Internet & American Life, Dec. 29, 2002. http:// www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Expectations.pdf. Jan. 24, 2003

The third annual UCLA Internet Report finds that “60.5 percent of all users considered the Internet to be a very important or extremely important source of information,” however, “the number of users who believe that information on the Internet is reliable and accurate” has declined from 55 percent in 2000 and 58 percent in 2001 to 52.8 percent in 2002.

Jeffrey I. Cole, et al., The UCLA Internet Report "Surveying the Digital Future," UCLA Center For Communication Policy, January 2003. http://ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp. Feb. 3, 2003

Issues of privacy in public libraries

Less than ten percent of librarians responding to a recent survey of U.S. Public Libraries by the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois “say they have changed patron Internet use policies” in response to the USA Patriot Act of October 2001. “Almost 70 percent (69-1) … have instructed staff or library boards about library policies regarding patron privacy.”

Leigh S. Estabrook, et al., Public Libraries and Civil Liberties: A Profession Divided, The Library Research Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/gslis/research/civil_liberties.html. Feb. 2, 2003

Book trade in the United Kingdom

The total number of titles published in the United Kingdom increased from 102,102 in 1996 to 119,001 in 2001. The average book price increased less than one percent from 2000 (£7.43) to 2001 (£7.48).

"2002 Library & Information Statistics Tables for the United Kingdom, Library and Information Statistics Unit," Loughborough University, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ails/lisu/list02/list02.html. Feb. 4, 2003

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