Library Use of the Mega Internet Sites, 2013 Edition

Primary Research Group, ISBN 978-157440-241-4

The study looks closely at how libraries are using Google, Pinterest, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Amazon, Bing, Instagram, Vimeo, Twitter, Ebay and many other major internet sites. Just a few of the findings from the study are that:

• 4.17% of the libraries have workshops which teach patrons to use Craigslist
• 25% of the libraries sampled give workshops on how to use Wikipedia
• 90% of college libraries sampled give workshops on how to use Google Scholar.
• A third of legal and corporate libraries sampled considered Google Translate to be “highly useful”.
• Nearly 43% of libraries with an annual budget of more than $1 million considered Bing to be “highly useful”.
• The mean number of subscribers to the Twitter accounts of the libraries in the sample was 323.
• Non-USA libraries were much more likely than US-libraries to consider MySpace useful.
• About 23% of the libraries sampled had a YouTube account.
• Public libraries in the sample spent a mean of $8,000 ordering books from Amazon in the past year.
• 12.5% of libraries sampled use FlickR in their professional work.

The 160+ page study is available from Primary Research Group for $72.00. A pdf version of the report is currently available and a print version will be ready to ship on June 5, 2013 and can be ordered now. Site licenses are also available. Our reports can also be ordered through major book and Ebook distributors, as well as through major research report distributors. For a table of contents, list of participants, and free excerpt, or to place an order, visit our website at www.PrimaryResearch.com

Wikipedia wins the Google lottery - But Why?

Guardian Technology Blog

The Wikimedia Foundation - the organisation that runs Wikipedia- scored its own unexpected windfall yesterday, when it officially announced that Google was giving it a $2m grant.
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For the website, the donation comes as the icing on the cake. Over the last few months, Wikipedia's been on a rather relentless fundraising drive that ended up bringing in $8m of cash to keep it going.

And it shouldn't be a complete surprise that Google is dipping into its pocket - after all, the internet goliath is not above supporting projects that help its users in some way. In the past it has pumped money into projects like Mozilla's Firefox and various university research projects.

But why Wikipedia?

Well, in general Google focuses on giving money to causes that will help make life better or easier for its users. That might be opening up a database that improves search results, offering a browser that is faster or more flexible than others, or finding new ways to collect and disseminate information.

Seen in that light, the Wikipedia grant is simple: the site's vast database of articles and search-engine friendly approach means it gets featured heavily in Google's results pages.
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What is good for Wikipedia - making the site faster, more reliable and more accessible - helps Google's users get what they want, and is therefore good for the company itself. It's not a grant, it's an investment in making sure it can keep dominating search.