Chapter 2: Public Libraries and the Internet
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5860/ltr.47n6Abstract
Since 1994, the Public Libraries and the Internet and Public Library Funding and Technology Access national surveys have charted the involvement with and use of the Internet by US public libraries. During that time, thirteen national studies have provided longitudinal data that track trends in the public-access computing and Internet access provided by public libraries to the communities that they serve. This chapter of The Transforming Public Library Technology Infrastructure provides an overview and review of selected data from these national studies; identifies key trends and changes in Internet-enabled services and resources provided by public libraries to their communities over the course of the seventeen years of conducting the national surveys; examines key issues that emerge from the data regarding public library Internet use and involvement; and considers selected future issues regarding public library Internet-enabled services, particularly as the public access that libraries provide their communities takes on increasing importance in supporting a range of services such as e-government, jobs and employment, health information, and education.
References
The studies were the Public Libraries and the Internet Survey series, with various funding sources, until 2006, at which time they became part of the Public Library Funding and Technology Access study (www.ala.org/plinternetfundingnBy system we mean the central authority for the library—that is, the entity that makes budget decisions, applies for E-Rate, and makes other management decisions. The survey does not use the term system to mean regional cooperatives or other forms of federated libraries.nMetropolitan status was determined using the official designations employed by the Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget, and other government agencies. These designations are used in the study because they are the official definition employed by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which allows for the mapping of public library outlets in the study.nIn previous studies, the authors have used the less than 20%, 20%–40%, and greater than 40% poverty breakdowns. The poverty of the population a library outlet serves is calculated using a combination of geocoded library facilities and census data. More information on this technique is available through the authors as well as by reviewing the 1998 and 2000 public library Internet studies (John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure,
The 1998 National Survey of US Public Library Outlet Internet Connectivity: Final Report
[Washington, DC: National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, 1998]; John Carlo Bertot, and Charles R. McClure,
Public Libraries and the Internet 2000: Summary Findings and Tables
[Washington, DC: National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, 2000]; both available at http://plinternetsurvey.orgnJohn Carlo Bertot, “Web-Based Surveys: Not Your Basic Survey Anymore,”
Library Quarterly
, no. 1 (2009): 119–124; Paul T. Jaeger, Kim M. Thompson, and Jonathan L. Lazar, “The Internet and the Evolution of Library Research: The Perspective of One Longitudinal Study,”
Library Quarterly
(forthcoming).nCharles R. McClure, Paul T. Jaeger, and John Carlo Bertot, “The Looming Infrastructure Plateau? Space, Funding, Connection Speed, and the Ability of Public Libraries to Meet the Demand for Free Internet Access,”
First Monday
, no. 12 (Dec. 2007), www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2017/1907nJohn Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure, and Paul T. Jaeger, “The Impacts of Free Public Internet Access on Public Library Patrons and Communities,”
Library Quarterly
, no. 3 (2008): 285–301; Paul T. Jaeger and John Carlo Bertot, “Responsibility Rolls Down: Public Libraries and the Social and Policy Obligations of Ensuring Access to E-Government and Government Information,”
Public Library Quarterly
, no. 1(2011): 1–25.nPaul T. Jaeger, “Building e-government into the library and information science curriculum: The future of government information and services,”
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
, (2008): 167–179; Paul T. Jaeger and John Carlo Bertot, “E-government education in public libraries: New service roles and expanding social responsibilities,”
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
, (2009): 40–50.nBertot and Jaeger, “Implementing and Managing Public Library Networks”; Kathryn I. Sigler, Paul T. Jaeger, John Carlo Bertot, Elizabeth J. DeCoster, Abigail J. McDermott, and Lesley A. Langa, “Public Libraries, the Internet, and Economic Uncertainty,” in
Advances in Librarianship
, vol. 34: Librarianship in Times of Crisis, edited by A. Woodsworth (Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK: Emerald Publishing, forthcoming).nJim Rettig, “Once in a Lifetime,”
American Libraries
website, July 23, 2009, http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/junejuly-2009/once-lifetimenNanci Milone Hill, “Three Views,” Perspectives,
Public Libraries
, no. 4 (July/Aug. 2009): 8–11; Sigler et al., “Public Libraries, the Internet, and Economic Uncertainty.”nInstitute of Museum and Library Services, “Fiscal Year 2008 Public Library (Public Use) Data File” (puout08a, last accessed May 30, 2011), 2010, http://harvester.census.gov/imls/data/pls/index.asp#fy2008BridgeStudynPaul T. Jaeger, John Carlo Bertot, Charles R. McClure, and Miranda Rodriguez, “Public Libraries and Internet Access across the United States: A Comparison by State from 2004 to 2006,”
Information Technology and Libraries
, no. 2 (June 2007): 4–14.n
