ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 230 / C&RL News ■ March 2003 → Fa s t Facts A n n V i Ie s Speed of the Slammer Worm According to a technical report issued by the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), th e Sapphire/Slam m er co m p u ter w orm , w hich “infected at least 75,000 hosts” o n January 25, “w as th e fastest com puter w orm in history. As it began spreading throughout the Internet, it doubled in size every 8.5 seconds. It infected more than 90 percent o f vulnerable hosts within 10 minutes.” David M oore, et al., "The Spread o f th e Sapphire/Slammer W o rm ," Cooperative Association fo r Inte rn e t Data Analysis, Jan. 3 0 , 2003. http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2003/sapphire/sapphire.html. Feb. 4,2003 SLA salary survey The Special Libraries Association’s 2002 Salary Survey reports increased earnings for information professionals in both Canada an d the United States. The average (m ean) salary for inform ation professionals as o f April 1, 2002, w as $60,583 in the U nited States and $59,328 (Canadian dollars) in Canada. 2002 SLA Salary Survey, Special Libraries Association, http://www.sla.org/content/m em berservice/researchforum / salarysurveys/salsur2002/index.cfm. Feb. 2 , 2003 Reliance on Internet information Two recent reports address the perceived importance and reliability of Internet informa­ tion. A Pew Internet Project study finds that “69 percent o f Americans expect to b e able to find reliable, up-to-date new s online,” and 67 percent “expect to find reliable health care information online.” John B. H orrigan and Lee Rainie, C o unting on the Internet. Pew In te rn e t & Am erican Life, Dec. 29, 2002. h ttp :// www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Expectations.pdf. Jan. 2 4 , 2003 The third annual UCLA Internet Report finds that “60.5 percent o f all users considered the Internet to b e a very im portant o r extrem ely im portant source o f inform ation,” however, “the n um ber of users w h o believe that information o n the Internet is reliable an d accurate” has declined from 55 percen t in 2000 an d 58 percen t in 2001 to 52.8 percent in 2002. Jeffrey I. Cole, e t al., The UCLA Inte rn e t Report "Surveying th e D igital Future," UCLA Center For Comm unication Policy, January 2003. http://ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp. Feb. 3 , 2003 Issues of privacy in public libraries Less than ten percent of librarians responding to a recent survey o f U.S. Public Libraries by the Library Research C enter at th e University o f Illinois “say they have ch an g ed p atro n In tern et u se p o licies” in re s p o n se to th e USA Patriot Act o f O cto b er 2001. “A lm ost 70 p e rc e n t (69-1) … hav e instructed staff o r library b o ard s a b o u t library policies regarding patron privacy.” Leigh S. Estabrook, et al., Public Libraries and Civil Liberties: A Profession Divided, The Library Research Center, University o f Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/gslis/research/civil_liberties.html. Feb. 2 , 2003 Book trade in the United Kingdom The total num ber o f titles published in the United Kingdom increased from 102,102 in 1996 to 119,001 in 2001. The average book price increased less than one percent from 2000 (£7.43) to 2001 (£7.48). "2002 Library & Info rm a tio n Statistics Tables f o r th e U nited Kingdom , Library and In fo rm a tio n Statistics U n it," Loughborough University, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departm ents/ails/lisu/list02/list02.htm l. Feb. 4 , 2003 Ann Viles is coordinator o f reference and instruction at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, e-mail: vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2003/sapphire/sapphire.html http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/researchforum/ http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Expectations.pdf http://ccp.ucla.edu/pages/internet-report.asp http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/gslis/research/civil_liberties.html http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ails/lisu/list02/list02.html mailto:vilesea@conrad.appstate.edu