dec08ff.indd


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

Younger generation not more educated 
The percentage of young adults aged 25 to 29 and older adults aged 30 and above 
with at least an associate’s degree in 2006 was about the same, approximately 35 
percent. For Hispanics and American Indians, young adults have less education 
than previous generations. Asian Americans and whites were the only two groups 
in which young adults were more educated than prior generations. Sixty-six 
percent of young Asian Americans had at least an associate’s degree compared 
with 54 percent of older Asian Americans. Forty-one percent of young white 
adults and 37 percent of older white adults had at least an associate degree. 
“Generational Gains in Postsecondary Education Appear to Have Stalled, New ACE Report Finds,” retrieved November 3, 
2008, from American Council on Education, www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases2&TEMPLATE=/ 
CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=29423. 

Books challenged 
ALA reported 420 formal requests to remove books from schools and libraries in 
2007. ALA “has logged more than 9,600 requests to remove books from library 
shelves, summer reading lists and school classrooms since 1990. The actual 
number is considerably higher, association officials say, because most challenges 
are handled quietly.” The most challenged title in 2007 was And Tango Makes 
Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. 
L. King, “Schools, Libraries See Hundreds of Requests to Ban Books,” retrieved November 4, 2008, USA Today, www. 
usatoday.com/news/education/2008-10-22-challengedbooks_N.htm. 

United States population 
Projected population of the United States on January 1, 2009: 306,095,000. 
“U.S. POPClock Projection,” retrieved November 11, 2008, U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Washington, D.C., 
www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html. 

Book publishing 

unc.edu 

C&RL News December 2008  752 

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

U.S. book publishers’ net revenues in 2007 reached $37.26 billion, up 4.4 percent 
over 2006. Unit sales in 2007 reached nearly 3.127 billion. 
BISG press release, retrieved November 3, 2008, Book Industry Study Group, www.bisg.org/news/press. 
php?pressid=49. 

New book titles 
Bowker projects that U.S. title output in traditional publishing in 2007 increased 
to 276,649 new titles and editions, up from the 274,416 published in 2006. There 
was a significant rise in the reported number of on-demand and short-run books 
to 134,773, pushing the grand total for projected 2007 U.S. book output to 411,422 
new book titles. Among the traditional publishing gains, there were 50,071 new 
fiction titles introduced in the United States last year, up 17 percent from 2006. 
The number of business titles fell to 7,651 in 2007, down 12 percent, and the 
number of new sociology/economics books dropped to 24,596, down 11 percent. 
Religion titles dropped 5 percent and history titles dropped 3 percent. 
“R.R. Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Flat in 2007,” retrieved November 12, 2008, from Bowker, www.bowker. 
com/index.php/press-releases/526-bowker-reports-us-book-production-fl at-in-2007. 

www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html
www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases2&TEMPLATE