ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 656 / C&RL News ■ J u ly /A u g u s t 2000 a FtsFacts D a ta b a s e b a rg a in f o r s tu d en ts Bell & H ow ell is b ypassing libraries to offer stu d en ts d irect access to articles in o n e-th ird o f its P roQ uest titles for $19 95 a sem ester. (B a rb a ra Q u in t, "B e ll & H o w e ll In fo r m a tio n a n d L e a rn in g 's P ro Q u e st A c a d e m ic E d itio n B rin gs A rtic le s D ire c tly t o S tu d e n ts f o r a L o w Fixed Fe e," In fo r m a tio n To da y N ew sB re aks. h tt p : // w w w . in fo to d a y .c o m /n e w s b re a k s / n b 0 0 0 2 2 8 -2 .h tm . M a y 28, 2 000) R eferen ce a n d c irc u la tio n stats d ro p in ARL lib ra rie s “Starting in 1998 referen ce a n d circulation service transactions d ro p p e d back to th e 1991 levels o f activity.” (" T re n d s in ARL L ib ra rie s: In tr o d u c tio n t o ARL Statistics, 1 9 9 8 -9 9 ," ARL S ta tistics a n d M e a s u re m e n ts P ro g ra m . h ttp ://w w w .a r l.o r g /s ta ts /a r ls ta t/9 9 in tr o .h tm l. Ju ne 1, 2 000) B ib lio g ra p h ie s n o t in clud ed Scholarly p u blishers, su c h as O xford U niversity Press, are p ro d u c in g “smaller, cheaper, m o re accessible book[s]” by elim inating bib lio g rap h ies a n d p u b lish ­ ing only th e ad d ress o f b ib lio g rap h y W eb sites. (D o re e n C a rva ja l, "T h e B oo k's in P rin t, b u t its B ib lio g ra p h y Lives in C yb e rsp a ce ," N e w Y ork Times, M a y 29, 2 000, n a ti, e d.: A 1) In te r a c tiv e lib ra ry statistics T he G eospatial a n d Statistical D ata C enter o f th e U niversity o f Virginia Library Statistics site includes university library data collected b y Jam es G ero u ld at M innesota an d P rinceton from 1907-08 th ro u g h 1961-62 a n d A ssociation o f Research Libraries Statistics data from 1961-62 th ro u g h 1998-99. T he interac­ tive site allow s u sers to m an ip u late q u eries an d display data as n u m b ers o r graphs. (" A s s o c ia tio n o f Research L ib ra rie s S ta tis tic s ." h ttp ://fis h e r .lib .V ir g in ia .E D U /n e w a rl/. Ju ne 1, 2 000) G a te w a y t o p e e r-r e v ie w e d course m o d u le s MERLOT (h ttp ://w w w .m e rlo t.o rg ), a n o n p ro fit o rg an izatio n in c o rp o ra te d in February, p ro v id es links to m o re th a n 2,000 digital learning m odules. “F our discipline g ro u p s h av e already b e e n fo rm ed an d begun- th eir [peer] review process: Biology, Physics, T eacher E du cation a n d B usiness.” T h e a d d itio n o f six m ore disciplines is e x p e c te d by J u n e 2001. ("M ER LOT: A N a tio n a l Te ach in g a n d L e a rn in g N e tw o r k f o r F a c u lty ." h ttp ://w w w .m e r lo t.o r g /h e lp /O v e r v ie w .p o . Ju n e 1, 2 000) L ib ra ria n s ' salaries 1 9 9 9 -2 0 0 0 T he m ed ian salary for directors o f library services in all ty p es o f h ig h e r e d u c a ­ tio n institutions is $61,218. ( " M e d ia n Salaries o f C o lle g e A d m in is tr a to rs by Type o f In s titu tio n , 1 9 9 9 -2 0 0 0 ," C h ro n ic le o f H ig h e r E duca­ tio n , F e b ru a ry 25, 2000: A 4 7 ) 1,000+ s ta ff H arvard U niversity Library has 1,040 full-tim e-equivalent p rofessional a n d s u p ­ port staff. T h e next largest staff in a university research librar)' in th e U nited States a n d C anada is Yale’s staff o f 562. ( " H o ld in g s o f U n iv e rs ity Research L ib ra rie s in U.S. a n d C anada, 1 9 9 8 -9 9 ," C h ro n ic le o f H ig h e r E d u c a tio n , M a y 19, 2 000: A23 ) Thanks to Mike Hanson, reference librarian at Western Wisconsin Technical College, for his contributions and suggestions. Ann Viles is coordinator o f reference and instruction a t Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/ http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/99intro.html http://fisher.lib.Virginia.EDU/newarl/ http://www.merlot.org http://www.merlot.org/help/Overview.po mailto:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu