ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 546 / C&RL News ■ July/August 2002 A n n V i I e s Fast facts P eriodical prices The 2001 U.S. Periodical Price Index, sponsored for the 4 lst time by the Library Materials Price Index Committee of ALA’s Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, reported the average price per title, excluding the most expensive category—Russian translations—“rose from $241.54 to $261.56, which represents an 8.3% rate of increase, dow n 0.7 of a percentage point from last year. The rate has been very similar over the past four years with 9.9% and 10.3% increases posted in 1997 and 1998, respectively, and 10.4% and 9.0% in 1999 and 2000.” B arbara A lb e e a nd Brenda D ingley, "U.S. P eriodical Prices— 2 0 0 1 ," A m e ric a n L ib ra rie s 32 (M a y 2001): 72 -7 8 . E ducation in d u s try revenues Eduventures.corn’s annual education industry report indicates a 2.6 percent increase to $102 billion in 2001. The pre-K-12 market accounted for $58 billion, corporate and professional education for $27.4 billion, and postsecondary, ranking third, for $16.5 billion. "2001 In d u s try Revenues Reach $102 B illio n : E d u ven tu re s t o Release A n n u a l E d u ca tio n In d u stry M a rk e ts & O p p o rtu n itie s R e p o rt," E d uventures.com , June 2002. h ttp ://w w w .e d u v e n tu re s .c o m /n e w s /n e w s -h o m e .c fm . June 4, 2002 L ib ra ry use in UK According to a recently released study by the Audit Commission, visits to UK libraries dropped to 290 million in 2000-01, a decline of 17 percent since 1992- 93- Circulation has dropped by 23 percent during the last three years. B u ild in g B e tte r L ib ra ry Services, The A u d it C om m ission f o r Local A u th o r itie s a nd th e NHS o f E n g la n d and W ales, M ay 2002. h ttp ://w w w .a u d it-c o m m is s io n .g o v .u k /p u b lic a tio n s /lfa ir_ lib ra rie s .s h tm l. M ay 29, 2002 B ritish re a d in g h ab its A recent study of British reading habits, conducted by Book Marketing Limited for the Orange Prize for Fiction, asked adults w ho read for pleasure to keep a diary of their reading for a period of three months. Respondents reported read­ ing an average of 6 hours weekly, including 77 minutes reading fiction books, 17 minutes reading “reference books (e.g., cookery, gardening),” and 41 min­ utes reading “non-fiction books (e.g., history, biography).’’ The R e a d in g H ab its o f In d iv id u a ls & Couples: R e p o rt o n a P anel Study. B ook M a r k e tin g L im ite d , M ay 2002. h ttp ://w w w .o ra n g e p riz e .c o .u k /re s e a rc h /re s e a rc h _ re p o rt_ 2 0 0 2 .p d f. June 3, 2002 In te r n e t h e a lth in fo rm a tio n seekers Recent surveys of “health seekers” for the Pew Internet Project found that only about one quarter of the “62% of Internet users, or 73 million people in the United States, [who] have gone online in search of health information . . . follow the recom m ended protocol on thoroughly checking the source and timeliness of information and are vigilant about verifying a site’s information every time they search for health information.” V ita l Decisions: H o w In te r n e t Users D ecide W h a t In fo r m a tio n to Trust W h e n They o r T h e ir L o ve d Ones A re S ick, P e w I n t e r n e t & A m e r ic a n L ife P r o je c t, M a y 2 2, 2 0 0 2 . h t t p : / / w w w . p e w in t e r n e t . o r g / r e p o r t s / to c.a sp ? R e p o rt= 5 9 Ann Viies is coordinator o f reference and instruction a t Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu Eduventures.com http://www.eduventures.com/news/news-home.cfm http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/publications/lfair_libraries.shtml http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/research/research_report_2002.pdf http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/ mailto:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu