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C&RL News June 2011  380

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

G a r y  P a t t i l l o

Tar Heel Reader
Tar Heel Reader is a collection of online books for beginning readers of all ages. 
It is intended for children and adults who want to improve their beginner-level 
reading skills. Tar Heel Reader also allows certified users to create and publish 
books on the Web site. Approximately 15,000 books in 15 languages are available. 
The site is the result of collaboration between the Center for Literacy and Dis-
ability Studies and the department of Computer Science at the University of North 
Carolina-Chapel Hill. As of February 11—1,000 days after its launch in 2008—2 
million books were read by readers from 150 countries.
Tar Heel Reader. http://tarheelreader.org (retrieved April 30, 2011).

Online “scraping”
Online “scraping” companies harvest online conversations and collect personal data 
from social networking sites, résumé sites, blog postings, and online forums where 
people discuss their lives. Clients buy data gleaned from the Web to get insight 
about their products from consumers, but also to collect personal information for 
detailed background reports on individuals. Spending on data from online sources is 
anticipated to more than double, from $410 million in 2009 to $840 million in 2012.
Julia Angwin and Steve Stecklow, “’Scrapers’ Dig Deep for Data on Web,” The Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2010, online.
wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703358504575544381288117888.html (retrieved May 2, 2011).

Periodical prices
The average 2011 price for journals in the field of chemistry is $4,044 per title. 
That is followed by physics and biology at $3,499 and $2,167, respectively. Col-
lectively, serials prices in all subjects continue to rise at a rate well above the 
Consumer Price Index, while most state budgets continue to fall. Prices for 2012 
are projected to rise between six and eight percent.
Steven Bosc, Kittie Henderson, and Heather Klusendorf, “Periodicals Price Survey 2011 | Under Pressure, Times Are 
Changing,” Library Journal.com, www.libraryjournal.com/lj/newslettersnewsletterbucketacademicnewswire/890009-440 
/periodicals_price_survey_2011_under.html.csp (retrieved May 4, 2011).

Academic libraries
Students and faculty are using academic libraries more than ever. During a typical 
week, American academic libraries had more than 31 million searches in electronic da-
tabases, answered 469,000 reference questions, and made 12,000 group presentations.
“The State of America’s Libraries,” ALA, http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries2011/index.
cfm (retrieved April 11, 2011).

PhDs
More people are graduating with PhDs than ever before, and the growth shows 
no sign of slowing. The number of science doctorates earned each year in OECD 
countries grew by nearly 40 percent during the ten year period 1998 to 2008. China 
shows the highest annual rate of growth at 40 percent, while the annual growth 
rate for the United States is just 2.5 percent. In China, 50,000 people graduated 
with doctorates across all disciplines in 2009. The annual number of science and 
engineering doctorates graduating from U.S. universities rose to almost 41,000 in 
2007, with the biggest growth in medical and life sciences. It took a median of 
7.2 years to complete a science or engineering PhD, but the proportion finding 
full-time academic jobs within one to three years of graduating is dwindling.
“Specials: The Future of the PhD,” Nature, no. 472, April 20, 2011, www.nature.com/news/specials/phdfuture/index.html 
(retrieved April 30, 2011).