BTW News Briefs

TIA Program DOA

The Senate's $368 billion version of the 2004 defense appropriations bill includes a provision that would deny all funds to the Terrorism Information Awareness program, formerly known as the Total Information Awareness program, as reported by Wired News. Next week, the Senate bill will be reconciled with the House version, which contains no explicit provision to refuse funds to TIA. If denied funds, the TIA program would effectively be dead. --DG

Online Sales Soar

According to The State of Retailing Online 6.0, a Shop.org annual study conducted by Forrester Research of more than 130 retailers, online retail sales climbed to $76 billion in 2002, up 48 percent over the prior year. According to the study, the growth of online shopping was underscored by more product categories. The study also showed that 40 percent of online customers are completely new to a retailer's entire business.

Online retail sales are expected to grow 26 percent in 2003 to $96 billion.

With tighter budget restraints, many retailers are using a Web presence to enhance the sales of their bricks-and-mortar locations, the study noted. Forty percent of the retailers surveyed offer in-store inventory availability through their Web sites, and 78 percent of retailers offer in-store returns of online purchases. Seventeen percent of offline customers purchase online. In addition to direct online sales, these retailers reported that the Web influences 15 percent of their offline sales. --KS

Sharon Creech Wins CILIP Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler

On July 11 in London, the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) awarded the Carnegie Medal to Sharon Creech for her novel Ruby Holler. Creech is the first American to win the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the first author to win both the top U.S. children's award, the Newbery Medal, and the top U.K. award. Ruby Holler was published by Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins Publishers in the U.S. and Bloomsbury in the U.K.

The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children and young people. Established in 1936, the award is given annually by CILIP. The winning title must be written in English, published originally for children and young people, and have received its first publication in the U.K., or have had co-publication elsewhere within a three-month time lapse. --KS