ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


9 8 4 / C&RL N ew s ■  N o v e m b e r2000

A n n  V i Ie sFast Facts
Deep Web
A study by search com pan y BrightPlanet indicates “hundreds o f billions o f 
highly valuable docu m ents hidden in searchab le databases that canno t b e  re­
trieved by conventional search e n g in e s.”
(B rightPlanet, "T he  Deep W eb: S urfacing Hidden V a lu e ." h ttp ://w w w .co m p le te p la n e t.co m /T u to ria ls/D e e p W e b / 
index.asp. Oct. 2, 2000)

Book buyers prefer paper
T h e B o o k E x p o  America and Publishers Weekly survey o f  1,140 Internet users, 
w ho  bought at least o n e b o o k  eith er in a bo ok sto re o r on line b e tw een  Ju ly  
1999 and Ju ly  2000, found only four w ho think e -b o o k s will rep lace printed 
books.
(H illel Italie, "Survey: E-books W o n 't Replace Paper," AP O nline , Sept. 21, 2000. LEXIS NEXIS Academ ic U n i­
verse. Sept. 28, 2000)

Public library of th e  Internet
T he University o f North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s M etalab was renam ed ibiblio.org 
after receiving a $4-m illion gift from the Red Hat Center foundation to exp and  
“the p u blic library o f  the In ternet.’’ T he ibiblio server, a m ajor repository o f 
publicly available Linux softw are and digitized historical co llectio n s su ch as 
Documenting the Am erican South, “handles an  average o f 1.5 m illion transac­
tions daily.”
(Florence Olsen, "U . o f N o rth  Carolina Gets $ 4 -M illio n  t o  Expand 'P ub lic L ibrary o f th e  In te rn e t',"  Chronicle o f  
H ig h e r Education, Sept. 12, 2000. Sept. 28, 2000)

E-book econom ic fo recasts d iffer
A Pricew aterhouseC oopers study “forecasts that spending o n  e-publishing prod­
ucts in the trade area will jump from an estim ated $53 m illion this year to $2.7 
billion in 2004. ” O n the oth er hand, the banking firm Veronis Suhler’s Commu­
nication Industry Forecast reports “sales o f  e-products in the consu m er seg­
m ent are not ex p e cte d  to grow dramatically through 2 0 0 4 .” ,
(Jim M i llio t, "T w o  Studies See H e alth y Book M a rk e t A h e a d ," Publishers Weekly, Sept. 18, 2000: 10)

Hard drives in MP3 portables
A 6-m egabyte hard disk gives Creative T ech n olo gy ’s Nomad Ju k e b o x  the ca ­
pacity to store 100 hours o f m usic (approxim ately 150 CD s) in MP3 format.
(W a lte r S. Mossberg, " N o w  That's P ortable: N om ad Ju keb ox Holds M o re  th a n  1,500 S ongs," W a ll S tre e t Jo ur­
nal, Sept. 14, 2000, Eastern ed.: B1.)

G rants to  increase digital resources
T h e Institute o f Museum and Library Sendees awa rded m ore than $ 2 .7  m illion 
dollars for projects to digitize library resou rces at Cornell University, Georgia 
Departm ent o f Archives and History, Indiana University, Louisiana State Univer­
sity, N ebraska State Historical Society, New York Public Library, Northern Illi­
nois University, Tufts University, University o f  Arizona, University o f Georgia, 
University o f  North Carolina, and University o f  the Virgin Islands.
(In stitu te  o f Museum and Library Services, "Twelve L¡braries t o  D ig itize  Valuable Resources." h ttp ://w w w .im ls.g o v/ 
w h atsn e w /cu rre n t/0 9 1 9 0 0 -p d .h tm . Sept. 25, 2000)

Ann Viles is coordinator o f reference and instruction a t Appalachian State University in Boone, N orth 
Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu

http://www.completeplanet.com/Tutorials/DeepWeb/
http://www.imls.gov/
mailto:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu