ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 642 / C&RL News ■ O c to b e r 2003 →F a G s a r y P t a t t i l F l o acts S→earch e n g in e size w a rs Search Engine Watch reports that Google and AlltheWeb are both fighting for the title o f “world’s largest w eb search index. ” AlltheWeb recently increased its database size to 3,151,743,117 Web pages. Google countered soon thereafter with a claim o f indexing 3,307,998,701 Web pages. AlltheWeb’s announcement also included notice o f “several significant relevance enhancements that will improve the ranking o f URLs.” Chris Sherman, "G oogle to O verture: Mine's Bigger," http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artide.php/ 3069221. August 27,2003 C→o lle g e B oard te s t results More students than ever b efore took the SAT this year: 1.4 million, according to a recent report by the College Board. Scores for both math and verbal sections were up an average o f three points. The proportion o f minority students taking the SAT is at an all- time high o f 36 percent. "SAT® Verbal and M ath Scores Up Significantly as a Record-breaking Number o f Students Take th e Test," h ttp :// www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,3183,26858,OO.html. August 26,2003 →E m e rg e n c y in fo r m a tio n sources Television and radio top the list o f news sources Americans would use first in the case o f a terror attack. A Pew Internet P roject poll reveals 57 percent o f Americans said they would turn to television first followed by 15 percent for radio. Only 9 percent would consult news organization or government Web sites first. But 34 percent would use Web sites as their first or second combined source o f news. "The Internet and Emergency Preparedness: A Joint Survey w ith Federal Computer Week M agazine," Pew Internet Project. http://w ww.pew internet;org/reports/toc.asp?Report=100. August 31,2003 U→.S. e d u c a tio n levels The U.S. Census Bureau released a report from Census 2000 on educational attainment that said educational levels o f the U.S. population were the highest they have ever been. O f the 182.2 million people aged 25 and over on April 1, 2 0 0 0 ,8 0 percent had at least a high school diploma, and 24 percent had completed at least a bachelor’s degree. "Educational A tta in m e n t: 2000." http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-24.pdf. August 2003 →W o r ld w id e lite ra c y skills Finland, Korea, and Hong Kong are among the m ost literate countries, according to new results from an ongoing OECD study. The survey o f 43 countries also showed that there is a positive correlation between student perfo rm ance and spending per student. In general, males perform better in mathematics while females perform better in read­ ing, with mixed results in science literacy skills. "Literacy Skills fo r th e W orld o f Tom orrow: Further Results fro m PISA 2000," http://w ww.oecd.org/docum ent/49/ 0,2340,en_2649_37455_2997873_1_1_1_37455,00.html. July 2003 Gary P attillo is reference libra rian a t the University o f N orth Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff.lib.unc.edu http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/artide.php/ http://www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,3183,26858,OO.html http://www.pewinternet;org/reports/toc.asp?Report=100 http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-24.pdf http://www.oecd.org/document/49/ mailto:pattillo@refstaff.lib.unc.edu