june06ff.indd


G a r y  P a t t i l l o  

Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff. 
lib.unc.edu 

Vanishing archives 
The Information Security Oversight Office of the U.S. National Archives and 
Records Administration performed an audit of all re­review efforts undertaken 
since 1995 by various government agencies. The audit found that of more than 
25,000 historical documents withdrawn from public access, more than a third 
did not contain sensitive information justifying their classification. In a signifi cant 
number of cases, agencies reclassified records that had been previously declas­
sified properly. The Air Force accounted for 17,702 of the 25,315 documents 
withdrawn from public access. 
“Audit of the Withdrawal of Records from Public Access at the National Archives and Records Administration for Clas­
sifi cation Purposes,” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, April 26, 2006. www.archives.gov/isoo/re­
ports/2006­audit­report.html. May 1, 2006 

U.S. book production 
Book output in the United States in 2005 decreased by more than 18,000 to 
172,000 new titles and editions. This is the fi rst decline in U.S. title output since 
1999, and only the tenth downturn recorded in the last 50 years. This decline 
follows immediately on the heels of the record increase of more than 19,000 new 
books in 2004. “Great Britain, long the world’s per capita leader in the publication 
of new books in any language, now replaces the United States as the publisher 
of most new books in English. 206,000 new books were published in the U.K. 
in 2005, representing an increase of some 45,000 (28%) over 2004.” 
Bowker, “U.S. Book Production Plummets 18K in 2005; Smaller Publishers Show the Largest Drop in New Titles,” May 
9, 2006, www.bowker.com/press/bowker/2006_0509_bowker.htm. May 9, 2006. 

Digital technology and the printed book 
According to a recent article in the New York Times, “from the days of Sume­
rian clay tablets till now, humans have ‘published’ at least 32 million books, 
750 million articles and essays, 25 million songs, 500 million images, 500,000 
movies, 3 million videos, TV shows and short films and 100 billion public Web 
pages. All this material is currently contained in all the libraries and archives of 
the world. When fully digitized, the whole lot could be compressed (at current 
technological rates) onto 50 petabyte hard disks. Today you need a building 
about the size of a small­town library to house 50 petabytes. With tomorrow’s 
technology, it will all fit onto your iPod.” 
Kevin Kelly, “Scan This Book!” New York Times, May 14, 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/magazine/14publishing. 
html. May 14, 2006 

Google Co-op 
Google Co­op is a community­based search results refinement tool. It allows 
users to get personalized search results based on “subscriptions” to various 
content providers. The content providers contribute labels and subscribed links 
that users can add to their Google search results. This is Google’s entry into the 
social bookmarking and tagging arena pioneered by other Web sites such, as 
del.icio.us. It is currently only in its beginning stages. 
“Google Co­op,” www.google.com/coop. May 11, 2006 

398C&RL News June 2006