Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States

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Mr. Cheese, one of the 69.9 million companion animals in the United States.

Mr. Cheese, one of the 69.9 million companion animals in the United States.1

The best know statistical reference publication in the country, published since 1878, the ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is a single-volume reference source covering statistics on society, politics, and economics in the U.S. SMCM Library has access to both the print and electronic version!

Originally produced by the U.S. government, ProQuest began publishing the Statistical Abstract beginning in 2012 after the government announced that it would discontinue the title after 2011.

Collecting data from both public and private sources, the Statistical Abstract is published yearly with the most recent data available. As the name suggests, it’s primary focus is on the U.S., but it does include some international statistical information. On top of just being dang fun, the information in the Statistical Abstract can help you find data to enhance your research and track down elusive data sources.

The current print edition is available at the Reference desk in the “Ready Reference” section. Previous editions are available in the Oversized collection on the second floor, call number HA 202 .S72.

Electronic version is available under “S” in the A-Z Database List.

1American Veterinary Medical Association. (2015). Table no. 1253. Household pet ownership: 2011. ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2015 (p. 794). Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.

World Statistics Day & Statista

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The United Nations has declared October 20, 2015 World Statistics Day. Over the next few weeks, we will be featuring resources available from the SMCM Library related to statistics and data. For more info on World Statistics day, check out https://worldstatisticsday.org/index.html

Methods used for watching video content by U.S. college students in 2011

eMarketer. (n.d.). Methods used for watching video content by U.S. college students in 2011. In Statista – The Statistics Portal. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/212260/methods-for-watching-video-content-among-us-college-students/.

Happy World Statistics Day! Celebrate in style by checking out the Statista database, an awesome source for statistics available from the SMCM Library.

Statista is a statistics aggregator with over one million statistical facts covering over 80,000 topics, from over 18,000 sources, with over 500 stats added daily (phew!). Not only can you use Statista to get serious stats on industry, health, and society, but you can also find out what the most pirated TV show of 2014 was. (Spoiler: it was Game of Thrones, which apparently costs $6 million per episode to make. WHAT.)

On top of being crammed full of all kinds of stats, Statista provides attractive graphs (like the one at the beginning of this post) that you can incorporate into your paper or presentation!

Statista is available through the SMCM Library Databases page libguides.smcm.edu/databases

Find The Numbers You Need

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CQ Press State Stats

What’s the average travel time to work in Florida?
How many people in Colorado are registered to vote?
What’s the average science score for public school 4th graders in Nevada?

A good statistical information question is like librarian catnip. We love ’em. We know that somewhere in the vast infoverse some organization is collecting the data you need and we will try our hardest to find it. We have our usual go-to sources in print and online (I <3 the Statistical Abstract), and now we have yet another great source of numbers: CQ Press’ State Stats.

In State Stats you can find data on questions related to agriculture, the economy, education, government, health, population, transportation, crime, employment, the environment, and social welfare. It’s an easy to use collection of statistical information from a wide variety of sources, perfect for students in any discipline who need to support their arguments with hard data.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the answers to the questions above, they are:

  • 25.5 minutes
  • 2,299,000 people
  • 141 out of 300 (from the National Assessment of Educational Progress)

 

 

Numbers

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The last time I posted, I told you about all this great new stuff that we did over the summer.  Now, I’ll share with you some of the stuff we did throughout the whole year.

Last year (for statistics, we compile them on a fiscal year calendar (July 1 – June 30) we loaned a great many books (and DVD/VHS, laptops, extension cords, and headphones, and CD’s, microphones, cameras, camcorders, projectors, and I think you get the point by now :)) We also borrowed a lot from other libraries, not to mention fielded reference questions and taught information literacy to SMCM classes, among a great many other things.

If you were wondering just how often we do some of these things, today is your lucky day!

  • To our own patrons (students, faculty, staff), we loaned 16,993 items
  • To USMAI patrons, we loaned 5,673 items
  • From other USMAI libraries, we borrowed 3,488 items
  • To our local patrons (residents of St. Mary’s, Charles, or Calvert counties are eligible to sign up for a library card), we loaned 669 items
  • We loaned 782 print reserve items
  • We loaned 483 laptops
  • We loaned 365 media center items
  • We filled 3,652 ILLiad requests (580 books & 3,072 journal articles)
  • SMCM librarians taught information literacy skills to 117 SMCM classes and 1,786 students
  • Among the reference desk, email, and walk-ins to our offices & the Archives, SMCM librarians fielded 1,750 reference questions

Now, let’s see Mastercard make a commercial out of that!!

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St. Mary's City, MD, 20686-3001

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