C&RL News December 2020 592 Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@ email.unc.edu Academic libraries conducted nearly 700,000 consultations in 2018 Academic libraries in the United States provided 691,000 consultations during 2018, according to responses submitted to the 2019 ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey by more than 1,300 libraries. Libraries at doctoral- granting institutions provided an average of 801 consultations, followed by community colleges with an average of 573, master’s institutions with an aver- age of 444, and baccalaureate colleges with an average of 212. 2019 ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey Summary Data Tables, https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index. php?page_id=35 (retrieved September 24, 2020). Degree completion “Approximately 63 percent of full-time, first-time students enrolled in 2013 at 4-year institutions who were seeking a bachelor’s or equivalent degree com- pleted a bachelor’s or equivalent degree within 6 years at the institution where they began their studies.” IPEDS Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Survey Components,” https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data/ survey-components (retrieved November 3, 2020). National Assessment of Educational Progress Forty percent of American high school seniors score below the National As- sessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Basic level in math and 30 percent score below NAEP Basic in reading. Mark Schneider, “Res Ipsa Loquitur,” Institute of Education Sciences (IES), part of the U.S. Department of Education, November 2, 2020, https://ies.ed.gov/director/remarks/11-02-2020.asp (retrieved November 3, 2020). Community colleges reported highest percentage of OER initiatives in 2018 Nearly half of 1,516 libraries in the United States reported an open educational resource (OER) initiative at their institution during fiscal year 2018, with 12 estimating that OER had saved students at their institution more than $1 mil- lion over the previous fiscal year. Community colleges reported the highest percentage of OER initiatives with 62 percent, followed by doctoral-granting institutions at 55 percent, master’s institutions at 42 percent, and baccalaureate colleges at 31 percent. 2019 ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey Summary Data Tables, https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index. php?page_id=35 (retrieved September 24, 2020). Homework-help apps Homework-help apps provide immediate answers or explanations to homework questions. The top 10 homework-help apps saw a spike in monthly in-app purchase revenue, with this September generating 141 percent more revenue than last September. Students downloaded the top homework-help apps ap- proximately 5.7 million times, 23.3 percent more than last September. Madeline Lenahan, “Homework-Help Apps Increase IAP Revenue 141% YoY,” apptopia blog, https://blog.apptopia. com/homework-help-apps-increase-iap-revenue-141-yoy (retrieved November 3, 2020). mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject=Gary%20Pattillo https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index.php?page_id=35 https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index.php?page_id=35 https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data/survey-components https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data/survey-components https://ies.ed.gov/director/remarks/11-02-2020.asp https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index.php?page_id=35 https://www.acrlmetrics.com/index.php?page_id=35 https://blog.apptopia.com/homework-help-apps-increase-iap-revenue-141-yoy https://blog.apptopia.com/homework-help-apps-increase-iap-revenue-141-yoy