Cali the Librarian

"Sixteen million adults [in the UK] don’t have the basic online skills to confidently take advantage of digital tools."

—

BBC: Seven million Brits have ‘never used the internet’

This figure doesn’t seem to come from the report, so I don’t know if it includes the 7 million that aren’t online, but either way, it’s a fairly large number. I’m guessing there are many more than that in the U.S., which is a problem when you consider how much government information is now only online.

(Source: twitter.com)

Krafty Librarian: Usage Stats: Are They a Double Edged Sword?

…However, we aren’t the only ones who see our usage statistics. The vendors that sell us our products run the reports and it isn’t in their best interest for us to get the biggest bang out of our buck. I am not trying to imply that all of the vendors are nefarious. I am just saying that if they see that your usage stats are so good that you are only paying $.05 per use and the average library in your tier pays about $.10 per use, they are thinking that you are getting their product for a $50,000 discount.

I never thought of it this way—it’s a fascinating (frightening?) idea.

Maximize your tweets [infographic]

I would note that every account is different. I’m not sure what is encompassed in “engagement” since I don’t want to give my info in order to download the full report, but for my library twitter account, our worst day for retweets is Friday, not Wednesday/Thursday.

Also, personally, I hate seeing tweets with “please retweet!” in them. You shouldn’t have to beg people to share your info—it should be interesting/useful enough that they *want* to share it. But that’s just me personally. :)

(Source: lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com)

Top 10 Most Read Books in the World [infographic]

(based on number of books printed and sold)

(Source: twitter.com)

User Activity: Comparison of Social Networking Sites [infographic]

(Source: lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com)

How has the internet changed education? [infographic]

(Source: lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com)

E-book Nation [infographic]

(Source: lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com)

E-books aren’t just for e-readers …

pewinternet:

While there is a tendency to associate e-books with dedicated e-reading devices, we found that among people who read e-books, just as many read their e-books on a desktop or laptop computer as on an e-book reader like a Kindle or Nook—and more people read e-books on their cell phones than on tablet computers.

Take a deeper dive into the data here.

We want to know: Where do you read your e-books: On your phone? Laptop? E-reader? All of the above?

Pew Internet: The rise of e-reading

Those who have taken the plunge into reading e-books stand out in almost every way from other kinds of readers. Foremost, they are relatively avid readers of books in all formats: 88% of those who read e-books in the past 12 months also read printed books.² Compared with other book readers, they read more books. They read more frequently for a host of reasons: for pleasure, for research, for current events, and for work or school. They are also more likely than others to have bought their most recent book, rather than borrowed it, and they are more likely than others to say they prefer to purchase books in general, often starting their search online.

(Source: twitter.com)