ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 482 / C&RL News ■ June 2002 A n n V i I e s Fast Facts S tu d e n ts and fa c u lt y u s in g lib ra rie s less A recent survey of 3,200 students and faculty by the Digital Library Federation and Outsell, Inc. found that “m ore 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.” D a n ie l G re e n ste in a nd Leig h W a tso n Healy, " N a tio n a l Survey D o cu m e n ts Effects o f In te r n e t Use o n L ib ra rie s," CUR Issues 27 (M a y/Ju ne 2002). h ttp ://w w w .c lir.O rg /p u b s /is s u e s /is s u e s 2 7 .h tm l# n a tio n a l. M a y 5, 2002 H y p e rlin k s h a lf-life a p p ro x im a te ly 55 m o n th s After a period of 20 months, 18.8% of the total nonredundant URLs u sed in three online biochemistry courses are extinct. O f the 515 total URLs, 18.4% of 234 “.edu” dom ain 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 approxim ately 55 m onths.” Jo hn M a rk w e ll and D avid W. B rooks, " B ro k e n Links: Just H o w R a p id ly Do Science E d u ca tio n H yp e rlin ks Go E x tin c t? " h ttp ://w w w -c la s s .u n l.e d u /b io c h e m /u rl/b ro k e n _ lin k s .h tm l. M a y 3, 2002 R esearch lib ra rie s d e v e lo p Web p o rta ls 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.” " P o rta l F u n c tio n a lity P ro vid e d by ARL Libraries: P re lim in a ry Results o f an ARL Survey," ARL Access & T e ch n o l­ o g y P ro gra m Scholars P o rta l, A p r il 11, 2002. h ttp ://w w w .a rl.o rg /a c c e s s /s c h o la rs p o rta l/p re lim .h tm l. M a y 5, 2002 A d m in is tra to rs ' sa la rie s: 2 00 1-2 00 2 Median salaries for directors of library services at all higher education institu­ tions 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. "F a c t File: M e d ia n Salaries o f C olleg e A d m in is tra to rs by Type o f In s titu tio n , 2 0 0 0 -1 ," C h ro n icle o f H ig h e r E d u c a tio n , M a rch 16, 2001: A 32; " M e d iu m Salaries o f C olleg e A d m in is tra to rs by Type o f In s titu tio n , 2 0 0 1 -2 ," C h ro n icle o f H ig h e r E d u ca tio n , A p r. 12, 2002: A33 L ib ra ry sta ff-to -s tu d e n t ra tio in cre ase s The latest edition o f the Departm ent of Education’s Digest of Education Statistics reports a rise in the library staff-to-student ratio in college and university librar­ ies from 137 students per staff m em ber in 1987-88 to 150 students p e r staff m em ber in 1997-98. During the same period, library operating expenditures per student rose in constant dollars from $419 to $450. U.S. D e p a rtm e n t o f E d u ca tio n , N a tio n a l C e n te r f o r E d u ca tio n Statistics. D ig e st o f E d u ca tio n Statistics, 2001, NCES 2 0 0 2 -1 30 , b y Th o m as D. Snyder. P ro d u c tio n M a na g e r, C h a rlen e M . H o ffm a n . W a s h in g to n , D.C.: 2002. h ttp ://n c e s .e d .g o v /p u b s e a rc h /p u b s in fo .a s p 7 p u b id s 2 0 0 2 1 3 0 . M a y 5, 2002 20,000 tit le s in In te rn e t P u b lic L ib ra ry 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 In te r n e t Pu b lic L ib ra ry O n lin e Texts C o lle c tio n , h ttp ://w w w .ip l.o r g /r e a d in g /b o o k s /. M a y 5, 2002 A nn Vites is coordinator o f reference and instruction a t Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu http://www.clir.Org/pubs/issues/issues27.html%23national http://www-class.unl.edu/biochem/url/broken_links.html http://www.arl.org/access/scholarsportal/prelim.html http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp7pubids2002130 http://www.ipl.org/reading/books/ mailto:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu