C&RL News December 2019  682

Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@
email.unc.edu

Magazine publishing
For the period 2009-2018, the number of print consumer magazine titles pub-
lished in the U.S. rose from 7,110 to 7,218. That is down from the peak of 
7,390 in 2012 but up from 2017’s total of 7,176, according to the Association 
of Magazine Media.
The Association of Magazine Media, MPA Magazine Media Factbook, 2019, https://www.magazine.org/Magazine 
/Research_and_Resources_Pages/MPA_Factbook.aspx (retrieved November 4, 2019).

Corporate reputation rankings
An Axios Harris poll measuring the reputation of the 100 “most visible com-
panies” found that according to the general public, Facebook saw the biggest 
decline from 2018 (43 percent) coming in at position 94. Google dropped 13 
percent to position 41. According to the poll, Wegmans ranks 1 and Amazon 
ranks 2.
The Harris Poll (blog), “The Axios Harris Poll 100: 2019 Corporate Reputation Rankings,” https://theharrispoll.com 
/axios-harrispoll-100 (retrieved November 1, 2019).

U.S. and Canadian print book holdings
The U.S. and Canadian collective print book collection—the collective print 
book holdings of all libraries in the U.S. and Canada whose collections are 
registered in WorldCat—currently includes 59.2 million distinct print book 
publications based on 994.3 million holdings.
Brian Lavoie, “The US and Canadian Collective Print Book Collection: A 2019 Snapshot,” Dublin, OH: OCLC Research, 
https://doi.org/10.25333/7zjv-jv94 (retrieved November 4, 2019).

Reading proficiency
Only 35 percent of fourth graders were proficient in reading in 2019, down 
from 37 percent in 2017. Only 34 percent of eighth graders were proficient in 
reading, down from 36 percent.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, “The nation’s report card,” 2019, U.S. Department of Education and the 
Institute of Education Sciences, https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/reading/2019 (retrieved November 4, 2019).

Private high school graduates
Of the 348,234 private high school graduates in 2016–17, about 62 percent 
attended four-year colleges by the fall of 2017.
Stephen P. Broughman, Brian Kincel, and Jennifer Peterson, “Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: 
Results from the 2017–18 Private School Universe Survey First Look (NCES 2019-071),” U.S. Department of Education,” 
Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019071 
(retrieved November 1, 2019).

mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo
mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo
https://www.magazine.org/Magazine/Research_and_Resources_Pages/MPA_Factbook.aspx
https://www.magazine.org/Magazine/Research_and_Resources_Pages/MPA_Factbook.aspx
https://theharrispoll.com/axios-harrispoll-100
https://theharrispoll.com/axios-harrispoll-100
https://doi.org/10.25333/7zjv-jv94
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/reading/2019
https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2019071