Do You Have a Technology-related Story to Tell at Your Library?

Findings from Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2006-2007 can help. The ALA Office for Research & Statistics released the report in August, and media picked up the story in markets across the United States. But if media in your local community haven’t heard your library technology story, the report can help build your case.

The study is a three-year project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the ALA that continues and builds on the longest-running and largest study of Internet connectivity in public libraries by the Information Institute at Florida State University.

Among the 2006-07 findings, the ALA reported:
●       73 percent of libraries report they are the only provider of
free Internet access in their communities
●       54 percent of libraries offer wireless access, up from 17.9
percent only three years ago
●       68 percent of libraries offer online homework resources for
community families (serving the educational needs of more than 36 million school-age children)
●       Education and job seeking services are the top two uses of
public Internet service that library staff rank as critical to their community.
●       76 percent of libraries offer information technology training
for patrons.

The study provides information about:
●       Funding for public libraries and library technology
●       Internet services available in public libraries
●       Internet training available in public libraries
●       Wireless access in libraries
●       E-government roles and services
●       The average number and age of library computers in public
library branches
●       The average connection speeds in libraries
●       Whether or not libraries plan to add, upgrade or replace
computers in the coming year
●       Whether or not libraries plan to increase connection speeds in
the coming year
●       What obstacles libraries face in improving public computer and
Internet access

Here are a few excerpts from local newspapers about local library technology access:

VICTORVILLE (CA) - Library lines used to be filled with people waiting to check out books or to get help finding something.
     Now, in addition to checkout lines, people are lining up to use the Internet.
     The Victorville Public Library has 10 computers that are always in use, said Yvonne Hester, the city’s spokeswoman. There is a registration computer to sign up, and there is usually a line.
     “People sit around, and grab a book and wait for their chance to get on,” Hester said. In response to the growing demand for Internet access, the Victorville Library Technology Center, scheduled to open in late October, will have 19 new computers.
     The center, where the patio used to be, will offer classes on computer use and the basics of research and will be open to the public during off-time.
     The increase in library Internet users is not just a Victorville trend. According to a study released two weeks ago by the American Library Association, technology is attracting people to libraries across the country.

BLOOMINGTON (IL) -- Georgia Bouda can’t remember the last time public Internet terminals at the Bloomington Public Library weren’t in use. “We need more computers,” said the library director.
     The computer shortage at the Bloomington library and several other libraries in Central Illinois parallels a nationwide trend. A new study from the American Library Association found costs and space limitations left only one in five libraries with enough computers to meet demand at all times.
     Space is the problem for Bouda, who hopes to add another eight adult use computers next year. “I think we could budget for more if we had the space,” said Bouda, who wasn’t surprised by the study results.

HAMIL
TON (MA) -  In the Information Age, no institution is more important than that which has been historically responsible for making the world’s information accessible to the masses: the public library.
     In many cases, even in Massachusetts, where Boston and Franklin claim the nation’s first public libraries, libraries are struggling to restock their shelves and keep their doors open, let alone take advantage of new information technology.
     But here in Hamilton and Wenham, the public library seems to be faring quite well.
     “I do feel the town supports the library quite well,” said Hamilton-Wenham Public Library Director Jan Dempsey.
     The town recently voted to spend $7,500 of capital funds in fiscal year 2008 on upgrading the library’s technology - a project the library has begun on some of the its 16 public computers. “Hamilton-Wenham is really very blessed,” said Dempsey.
     When compared to the rest of the country, she may be right.
     A study released this week by the American Library Association found that the number of public Internet terminals in libraries remains unchanged since 2002. Just one library in five reports it has enough computers to meet the demand.

Finally, here’s another link - to the National Association of Counties news article on the study.

ALA press materials related to the study can be found online.  The study is freely available online or a bound copy may be purchased through the ALA Online Store at http://www.alastore.ala.org.

By Larra Clark, American Library Association