C&RL News June 2022 288 Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@email.unc.edu Spam messages in the United States Spam texts, calls, and emails are on the rise. In April 2022, 11.36 billion spam texts were sent in the United States. “The average American received roughly 42 spam texts just in the month of March. Spam emails rose by 30 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to a January report from The Washington Post.” In April 2022, 3.9 billion robocalls were placed in the United States. Margaret Harding McGill and Sara Fischer, “Americans Are Drowning in Spam,” Axios, April 18, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/04/18/spam-texts-calls-email-social-media (retrieved May 9, 2022). Google links to WorldCat “OCLC and Google are working together to link directly from books dis- covered through Google Search to print book records in the catalogs of hundreds of U.S. libraries. This feature is part of Google’s ongoing effort to connect people to their local libraries through Google Search. The program is expected to expand to more libraries and connect to more library resources in the future.” OCLC, “OCLC and Google Now Connect Web Searchers Directly to Library Collections,” April 13, 2022, https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2022/20220413-google-search- links-directly-to-library-books.html (retrieved May 9, 2022). Free Internet service plans “The White House said… 20 [I]nternet service providers have agreed to offer $30 high-speed internet plans to low-income families, effectively giving free service to households that qualify for a federal subsidy. The Affordable Con- nectivity Program (ACP) provides a $30 monthly discount on internet service from participating providers for low-income households, such as those that receive federal assistance through SNAP or Medicaid. The 20 ISP companies cover more than 80 percent of the U.S. population, but they are a fraction of the more than 1,000 providers participating in the ACP. As many as 48 million households qualify for the program.” Margaret Harding McGill, “White House Touts ‘Free’ Internet Service Plans,” Axios, May 9, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/05/09/white-house-free-internet-service-plans (re- trieved May 9, 2022). Internet live stats “Internet Live Stats” is part of the Real Time Statistics Project. Its website mailto:pattillo%40email.unc.edu?subject= https://www.axios.com/2022/04/18/spam-texts-calls-email-social-media https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2022/20220413-google-search-links-directly-to-library-books.html https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2022/20220413-google-search-links-directly-to-library-books.html https://www.axios.com/2022/05/09/white-house-free-internet-service-plans C&RL News June 2022 289 provides live counters for data such as the current number of Internet users in the world, number of websites, emails sent today, Google searches today, electricity used today for the Internet, and many other live data points. Internet Live Stats, https://www.internetlivestats.com (retrieved May 9, 2022). COVID-19 impact on higher education “Covid-19 . . . along with recent declines in birth rates among traditional-aged college students has led to lower enrollment rates across two-year and four-year colleges and universities from 2015 to 2021. Among U.S. adults without a col- lege degree, who are currently enrolled in a certificate or college degree program, about one-third (32 percent) of bachelor’s degree students and 41 percent of associate degree students report they have considered [dropping] out in the past six months. For those who remained enrolled, about half of associate or bachelor’s degree students report the financial aid they received (51 percent) and their confidence in the value of their eventual degree (49 percent) were very important reasons they were able to remain enrolled.” Gallup Inc., “The State of Higher Education 2022 Report,” Gallup.com, https://www.gallup.com /analytics/391829/state-of-higher-education-2022.aspx (retrieved May 9, 2022). https://www.internetlivestats.com http://Gallup.com https://www.gallup.com/analytics/391829/state-of-higher-education-2022.aspx https://www.gallup.com/analytics/391829/state-of-higher-education-2022.aspx