dec09ff.indd


December 2009  723 C&RL News

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

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

Books on phones
In October 2009, one out of every fi ve new iPhone and iPod touch applications 
launched in Apple’s App Store were book-related. Books and book applications 
exceeded the popularity of games in the previous four months. It is estimated 
about 1 percent of the entire U.S. population was reading a book on the iPhone 
in August 2009. The rise in eBook activity on the iPhone is in direct competition 
with the Amazon Kindle. 
Peter Farago, Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse, October 2009, November 1, 2009 [cited November 10, 2009]. Available 
at blog.fl urry.com/bid/27796/Flurry-Smartphone-Industry-Pulse-October-2009.

In-demand occupations
The top fi ve in-demand and desirable occupations in the United States (accord-
ing to projected need and median wage), using Bureau of Labor Statistics, are: 
registered nurses, general and operations managers, physicians and surgeons, 
accountants and auditors, and elementary school teachers. The projected need 
for nurses (2006–16) is 1,001,000 employees. The projected need for elementary 
school teachers is 545,000. Of all occupations regardless of wage, the highest 
projected need is for retail salespeople, with 1,935,000 needed during the time 
period 2006–16. The need for librarians is projected to be 49,000.
U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Education, 2009, Top 50 In-Demand Occupations. Bureau Of Labor 
Statistics 2008 Wages And 2006-2016 projection series, 2009 [cited October 14, 2009]. www.careervoyages.gov/
top50occupations-main.cfm.

Data deluge
Computer users worldwide generate enough digital data every 15 minutes to 
fi ll the U.S. Library of Congress. More technical data have been collected in the 
past year alone than in all previous years since science began, and the data is 
doubling every year. Preserving the data in readable formats remains an ongo-
ing challenge.
Robert Lee Hotz, “A Data Deluge Swamps Science Historians,” The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2009 [cited August 
29, 2009]. online.wsj.com/article/SB125139942345664387.html.

 
Most visited Web sites
According to comScore, Inc., the top fi ve most-visited Web properties in Sep-
tember 2009 were Google sites (164,597,000 unique visitors), Yahoo sites (160 
million), Microsoft sites (133 million), AOL (100 million), and Facebook (95 
million). Visits to television-related Web sites grew in September to 95.6 million 
visitors. Education/information sites saw 72.3 million visitors, while computer 
software sites marked 34.4 million unique visitors.
comScore, Inc. comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for September 2009, October 16, 2009 
[cited November 6, 2009]. Available at www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/10/comScore_Media
_Metrix_Ranks_Top_50_U.S._Web_Properties_for_September_2009.