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C&RL News January 2014  56

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

Library budget plans
“Library budgets are bouncing back or holding steady in the wake of several 
years of a lackluster economy. But budget growth overall has been lukewarm. 
Public community libraries experienced the largest share of budget increases, 
while academic libraries have seen little growth. About 39 percent of public 
librarians report that they expect to increase their budgets in the year ahead. 
Only 28 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of academic and special/corporate 
libraries are increasing their overall spending in the coming year.”
Joseph McKendrick, “Libraries: At the Epicenter of the Digital Disruption—The Library Resource Guide Benchmark Study 
on 2013/14 Library Spending Plans,” Summer 2013, Information Today, Inc., www.libraryresource.com/Downloads 
/Download.ashx?IssueID=4072 (retrieved October 2, 2013).

Academic library collection expenditures
“The percentage of the collection materials budget spent on ongoing resources 
purchases (including subscription expenditures) averaged 64.8 percent of the 
total materials budget. On average, doctoral degree granting institutions spent 
72.4 percent of their materials budgets on ongoing purchases in 2012; compre-
hensive schools spent an average of 71.4 percent; baccalaureate schools spent 
an average 65.9 percent, and associate degree granting institutions spent an 
average of 49.4 percent.”
Mary Jane Petrowski, “ACRL releases ‘2012 Academic Library Trends and Statistics,’” ALA News & Press Center, November 
1, 2013, www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2013/11/acrl-releases-2012-academic-library-trends-and-statistics (retrieved 
December 2, 2013).

Google transparency report
Federal, state, and local governments continue to ask for more data from Google. 
Since July 2009, government requests for Google users’ information have more 
than doubled. Those numbers include only the requests Google is allowed to 
publish. From January to June 2013, Google received nearly 11,000 requests 
from the U.S. government. During the same period, India, Germany, and France 
made over 2,000 requests each. 
Google, Inc. “Government requests for user information double over three years,” Google official blog, http://googleblog.
blogspot.com/2013/11/government-requests-for-user.html (retrieved December 2, 2013).

Social network overload
According to a recent study, “42 percent of online adults manage multiple 
social networking profiles–a number that jumps to 61 percent for those 18-34. 
More than half of all respondents (51 percent) belong to more social networks 
or visit their networks more frequently than two years ago. The average adult 
also manages 3.1 email addresses, up from 2.6 last year. And 68 percent man-
age different sets of friends, family, colleagues, and contacts across multiple 
social networks.”
Mylife.com, “National MyLife.com® Survey Reveals More Social Networks And Message Services, More Problems: 
Users Are Increasingly Overwhelmed, Overloaded,” PR Newswire, July 9, 2013, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases 
/national-mylifecom-survey-reveals-more-social-networks-and-message-services-more-problems-users-are-increasingly 
-overwhelmed-overloaded-214741101.html (retrieved October 2, 2013).