sept08ff.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@email. 
unc.edu 

Student e-book survey results 
Nearly half of students surveyed by an e­book company reported that they never 
use e­books. Of that group, 45 percent indicated that they prefer print books. 
The most cited shortcoming of e­books is that they are too difficult to read. 
About half of both students and faculty reported that they preferred working 
with electronic resources in general. The most requested feature for improving 
e­book usage was fewer restrictions on printing and copying. 
ebrary Corporation. 2008 Global Student E-book Survey Sponsored by ebrary, June 24, 2008. www.ebrary.com/corp/col-
lateral/en/Survey/ebrary_student_survey_2008.pdf Accessed August 8, 2008. 

Postsecondary institutions 
In Fall 2006, Title IV institutions in the United States enrolled a total of 18 mil­
lion individual graduate and undergraduate students; 62 percent were enrolled 
in four­year institutions, 37 percent in two­year institutions, and 2 percent in 
less­than­two­year institutions. Approximately 58 percent of fi rst­time, full­time 
bachelor’s degree­seekers attending four­year institutions completed the de­
gree within six years. During the 2005­06 academic year, 75 percent of the 2.7 
million full­time degree­seeking undergraduates attending Title IV institutions 
received fi nancial aid. 
L. G. Knapp, J. E. Kelly-Reid, S. A. Ginder, and E. Miller, E. (2008). Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2006; 
Graduation Rates, 2000 & 2003 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2006 (NCES 2008-173). National Center 
for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, D.C. nces.ed.gov/ 
pubs2008/2008173.pdf Accessed June 9, 2008. 

“Webometrics” ranking 
According to a study of higher education Web sites by a Spanish research 
organization, 28 of the top 30 ranked institutional Web sites are in the United 
States. The study measured open access to scholarly material as well as Web 
site performance and visibility. The highest ranked institution is Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, followed by Harvard, Stanford, and the University of 
California­Berkeley. Outside the United States, the University of Cambridge 
ranked highest at number 26. Of the top 1,000 institutions worldwide, those in 
the United States represented 37 percent of the total, followed by Germany at 
7 percent, and Canada at 4 percent. The top Latin American institution was the 
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. 
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), World Universities’ ranking on the Web, July 2008. www.webo-
metrics.info Accessed August 6, 2008. 

Librarian employment 
Number of librarians employed in the United States, by library type: public 
school libraries: 50,553; public libraries: 45,354; academic libraries: 25,936; 
private school libraries: 11,060; Bureau of Indian Affairs: 88. 
ALA Library Fact Sheet 2 - Number Employed in Libraries, April 2008. www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alali-
braryfactsheet2.cfm Accessed July 30, 2008. 

C&RL News September 2008  512