Information & Media
Information Centers & Libraries Archive
OPENING THE “WINDOW TO A LARGER WORLD” LIBRARIES’ ROLE IN CHANGING AMERICA: REPORT TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA & VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN TRANSITION TEAM.
American Library Association. December 17, 2008.
Full Text [PDF format, 8 pages]
The American Library Association states that as President-elect Obama has stated, libraries are “sanctuaries of learning” that represent “a window to a larger world.” During this time of transition for our nation, libraries of all types, public, school, academic, federal and research, are resources the American public and new Administration can use to help people find jobs, support education and lifelong learning, provide access to information and telecommunications services, empower families, and enable civic engagement as well as promote literacy and connect communities.
[Note: contains copyrighted material]
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Holmes, Emory A PRICELESS INHERITANCE (American Legacy, Winter 2009, pp. 23-30)
Full text available from your nearest American Library
With her salary as a librarian at the University of Southern California and UCLA, and later her Social Security checks, Mayme A. Clayton purchased rare photos, films, books and memorabilia that became the largest collection of African-American artifacts ever amassed by one person. Her son Avery is currently creating the Mayme Agnew Clayton Library and Museum in Culver City, California. He says his mother’s life mission for over 40 years had been to preserve endangered African-American artifacts “so that people will know that blacks did great things.” The collection is now a resource “of incalculable national worth,” according to author Emory Holmes: 3.5 million items, including 10,000 rare sound recordings, 1,700 films, 75,000 photos and 30,000 rare and out-of-print books. Among these are the first edition of Phillis Wheatley’s 1773 volume, Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, the first book by an African-American author ever published in the United States. It is likely the only signed copy in existence. The new library is tentatively due to open in early 2010. In the United States today there are three major collections that focus on African-American history and culture: one is in Harlem, one in Chicago, and the third is Mayme Clayton’s, which is the largest such collection in the world held independently. Mayme Clayton died in 2006 at the age of 83.
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Barber, Peggy; Wallace, Linda LIBRARIES CONNECT COMMUNITIES (American Libraries, vol. 39, no. 9, October 2008, pp. 52-55)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
The authors, cofounders of the Chicago-based consulting firm Library Communication Strategies, produce the Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study, which provides data and insights to help libraries and library staff strengthen their advocacy efforts and market themselves more effectively. Now in its second year, the study documents the proliferation of information technology in libraries and gathers the only data available on technology expenditures. Even before the latest economic downturn, most directors anticipated flat or declining revenues due to growing resistance to taxes and government budget deficits. The authors confirm that many libraries are increasingly turning to grants, fundraising, and gifts to supplement public financing. Not surprisingly, people at libraries with newer computers expressed a high level of satisfaction with their experience -- but so did users at less well-equipped libraries. People in poorer communities focused more on economics ("It's important for people like me who can't afford computers"), while users in more affluent areas talked more about education and research ("Computers are more important than books today") and the library as a quiet, convenient place to go ("Some of us don't want computers at home"). From 1996-2000, the number of libraries offering public-access computing went from 28 to 95 percent.
CUSTOMER-FOCUSED LIBRARY GRANT
Metropolitan Library System, Illinois, 2008
Web page, with links to documents
Final Report [pdf format, 42 pages]
Final Best Practices [pdf format; 12 pages]
[From the summary] "The purpose of The Customer Focused Library project is three-fold:
- "To gather and analyze qualitative and quantitative information about the customer experience in the grant partner libraries using evaluation practices from retail.
- "To derive best practices from the information gathered.
- "To share those best practices widely through the Metropolitan Library System, the state of Illinois, and the library community as a whole."
Eisenberg, Mike THE PARALLEL INFORMATION UNIVERSE (Library Journal, Vol. 133, No. 8, May 1, 2008, pp. 22-25)
Full Text [html format]
Noting that Web 2.0 and related technologies can be seen as a parallel information universe, with emphasis on information, Eisenberg argues that libraries cannot afford to ignore the information needs and preferences of iPod/SecondLife/FaceBook users. An important example is search, which is fundamental to the business of libraries: “library search pales next to Google and other web-based search engines … We can claim success when people use the library search as readily, easily, and often as they do Google.” That doesn’t mean that librarians shouldn’t be cautious and skeptical, but at the same time they cannot afford to ignore the information spaces of their users, especially their younger users. In fact, perhaps librarians should follow the example of these users and have a little fun as well: “We must be open to new possibilities and think creatively, entrepreneurially, and yes, even playfully.”
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MacDonald, Stuart; Uribe, Luis
Martinez LIBRARIES IN THE CONVERGING WORLDS OF OPEN DATA, E-RESEARCH,
AND WEB 2.0 (Online, vol. 32, no. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 36-40)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming the way researchers work. The new forms of research enabled by the latest technologies bring about collaboration among researchers in different locations, institutions, and even disciplines. This new collaboration has two key features -- the prodigious use and production of data. This data-centric research manifests itself in such concepts as e-science, cyber infrastructure, or e-research. Over the last decade there has been much discussion about the merits of open standards, open source software, open access to scholarly publications, and most recently open data. There are a range of authoritative weblogs that address the open movement, some of which include: 1. DCC's Digital Curation Blog, 2. Peter Suber's Open Access News, and 3. Open Knowledge Foundation Weblog. The data used and produced in e-research activities can be extremely complex, taking different forms depending on the discipline. In the hard sciences, such as biochemistry, data can take the form of images and numbers representing the structure of a protein.
Crowley, Bill LIFECYCLE LIBRARIANSHIP (Library Journal, Vol. 133, No. 6, May 1, 2008, pp. 46-48)
Full Text [html format]
Library & information science professor Crowley (Dominican University, Illinois) argues that librarians must discard the “information illusion” and focus rather on developing “the library services necessary to help solve critical social problems by addressing reading and learning, including electronic learning.”
MEETING THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: PAST ACTIONS AND FUTURE INITIATIVES.
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) . March 2009
Full Text [pdf format, 114 pages]
Final NCLIS report before its incorporation into the Institute of Museum and Library Services (http://www.imls.gov/). It "provides a historical overview of the accomplishments of a small and modestly funded Commission with a large and vital responsibility to address the information needs of the American public, and it also summarizes the results of a survey of opinion leaders in the fields of library and information science, who offered their advice on the most important issues that should be addressed in the next twelve to eighteen months."
Marcin, Susan; Morris, Peter OPAC: THE NEXT GENERATION: PLACING AN ENCORE FRONT END ONTO A SIRSIDYNIX ILS (Computers in Libraries, Vol. 28, No. 5, May 2008, pp. 6-9; 62-64)
Full text available from your nearest American Library
Instead of replacing their existing integrated library system (ILS), an increasing number of libraries are opting to buy a new interface that sits on top of the ILS. This may be a more cost-effective way of providing Web 2.0 user-friendliness. The authors list the criteria they used to evaluate various products. In the end, their short-list comprised WorldCat Local and Encore. Such a project will raise a number of issues and challenges.
OVER ONE-THIRD OF AMERICANS READ MORE THAN TEN BOOKS IN TYPICAL YEAR.
Harris Interactive, HarrisPoll #37. April 8, 2008.
Full Text [html format]
The practice of reading seems to be declining but Americans are still reading. According to this poll, only 9% of Americans typically read no books in an average year. Some 23% read one to three books per year; 19% read four to six, and 13% read seven to ten books per year. Over one-third, 37%, say they read more then ten books in an average year.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
SERVING NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS IN U.S. PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
American Library Association. Dr. Christie M. Koontz, et. al. March 26, 2008.
Full Text [ pdf format, 41 pages]
This study considers the impact of providing specialized library services to non-English speakers. ALA conducted this study because some 21 million people in the U.S. – 50% more than a decade ago – speak little or no English. This fact affects all public services including libraries.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
THE STATE OF AMERICA'S LIBRARIES.
American Library Association. April 2008
Table of Contents
This report highlights problems faced by school libraries, which have growing recognition but declining funding. Public libraries are seen as engines of economic growth. Americans check out more than 2 billion items from their public libraries. However, illiteracy and ignorance regarding library services are barriers for non-English speakers.
Andrea L. Foster AN UPSTART WEB CATALOG CHALLENGES AN ACADEMIC LIBRARY GIANT (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb 22, 2008)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
A 21 year old entrepreneur is attempting to turn the library world upside down. He is planning to build a free online book catalog that anyone can update. This will be direct competition to the subscription-based Worldcat.
THE GLOBAL “GO-TO THINK TANKS”: THE LEADING PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS IN THE WORLD.
James G. McGann. The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). Web posted January 3, 2008.
Full Text [pdf format, 24 pages]
This report identifies some of the leading public policy research organizations in the world. Institutions were nominated by a panel of over 50 experts. The panel selected 288 think tanks that “distinguished themselves by producing rigorous and relevant research, publications and programs.”
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
INFORMATION SEARCHES THAT SOLVE PROBLEMS: HOW PEOPLE USE THE INTERNET, LIBRARIES, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHEN THEY NEED HELP.
Leigh Estabrook, Evans Witt, and Lee Rainie. Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. December 30, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 43 pages]
This report is based on data from a national phone survey that questioned how people use information sources to address common problems. Some of the major findings of the survey are:
- More people turn to the internet for information than consult experts or family members;
- Generation Y (ages 18-30) are leading users of libraries;
- More than 50% of Americans use libraries;
- Gen Y members use libraries for problem-solving; and
- Libraries meet special needs.
“The survey results challenge the assumption that libraries are losing relevance in the internet age.”
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
AA08034
Bell, Steven J. DESIGN THINKING (American Libraries, vol. 39, nos. 1-2, January/February 2008, pp. 44-49)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
According to the author, design thinking can offer a new perspective and a creative approach in organizing the professional workspace and creating the best possible worker experience. Design thinkers take a much more deliberate and thoughtful approach to problem resolution; they rarely jump on bandwagons. The author adapts his principles (understand; observe; visualize; evaluate/refine; implement) to the library professional but emphasizes that they can be used by others as well. With design thinking, librarians can navigate users to the library and its electronic resources and move beyond the traditional mindset of library service. Books and articles by and about design thinkers, such as the The Art of Innovation, can provide greater detail and more concrete examples of how design thinking is applied to the creation of products and services. The Blended Librarians Online Learning Community (blended librarian.org) is beginning to explore ways in which design thinking can be applied to further collaboration with community partners and help students achieve academic success.
Kniffel, Leonard INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE MATTERS AT IFLA CONFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA (American Libraries. Oct 2007. Vol. 38, Iss. 9; pg. 36, 3 pgs)
Full Text (EbscoHost; password required)
Special Report on the IFLA Congress in Durban South Africa.
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Gregorian, Vartan A SENSE OF ELSEWHERE (American Libraries, vol. 38, no. 10, November 2007, pp. 46-48)
Full Text (EbscoHost: password required)
The author, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, salutes the power of libraries as “launching pads for the imagination”, the institution that is most representative of an open society. Libraries contain a nation’s heritage and the tools for learning and understanding -- a place where immigrants learn English and bridge the distances between their “old” country and their new adopted land. In 2001, more than twenty organizations created by industrialist Andrew Carnegie celebrated the 100th anniversary of his philanthropic work. Perhaps his most lasting contribution was his endowment of libraries, an act that created over 1600 libraries in the U.S. and about 1000 in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Fiji. Today, American libraries have embraced technology and have inspired libraries around the world to follow suit. American libraries were the first to allow circulation of books and periodicals, and to promote the openness of library collections; it was these practices that were successful overseas. In many countries, the most accessible libraries are the Information Resource Centers (IRCs) maintained by the U.S. Department of State.
Bahr, Ellen DREAMING OF A BETTER ILS (Computers in Libraries, Vol. 27, No. 9, October 2007, pp. 10-14)
Full Text on EbscoHost (password required)
Recent research clearly indicates that the library OPAC ranks very low in students' sources of information for their assignments (no prizes for guess which source comes top). Librarians are aware of this, but are constrained by vendor products. Bahr spoke to a number of library technology experts, including Roy Tennant and Stephen Abram, on what they would like to see in the next generation of integrated library systems. Underlying their responses is the desire to enhance greatly end-user discovery of library resources, unconstrained by traditional ILS/OPAC models.
LIBRARIES CONNECT COMMUNITIES: PUBLIC LIBRARY FUNDING & TECHNOLOGY ACCESS STUDY 2006-2007 REPORT. American Library Association and Information Institute, College of Information, Florida State University. 2007
Full Text [pdf format, 227 pages]
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA), [this study] is part of a sustained effort to provide current information that describes access to computers and the Internet in U.S. public libraries.
Three significant themes emerged from the study research:
- Technology is bringing more – not less – public library use
Providing education resources and services for job seekers are the Internet services most critical to the role of public libraries (see figure 24). Seventy-three percent of libraries report they are the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities. - Library infrastructure (space, bandwidth and staffing) is being pushed to capacity
An increased number of visitors to libraries coupled with increasingly complex technology products and services challenge libraries with facilities that were built before the advent of networked services and budgets and staff sizes that have not grown even with the addition of new services. - Libraries need more technology planning and dedicated technology support
Providing technology access does not represent a one-time investment of funds or staff training. More than a quarter of libraries do not have upgrade or replacement schedules for their computers, and state libraries identified an inability to plan and budget for IT upgrades, replacement and maintenance as a significant challenge for public libraries with vulnerable technology services. -- From the Executive Summary
[Note: contains copyrighted material.]
Rethlefsen, Melissa L. TAGS HELP MAKE LIBRARIES DEL.ICIO.US (Library Journal, Vol. 132, No. 15, September 15, 2007, pp. 26-28)
Full Text
A brief but useful overview of how libraries can use Web 2.0 tools to encourage user participation and reading.
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Havens, Earle THE VENTRILOQUIST WHO CHANGED THE WORLD (American Libraries, vol. 38, no. 7, August 2007, pp. 54-57)
Full text available from your nearest American Library
Alexandre Vattemare, little-known to most Americans, was a world-famous French ventriloquist who initiated a personal global campaign to unite the cultures of the world during the middle decades of the 19th century. Vattemare channeled his passion for performance into a personal quest to fund an international system for the free exchange of books, beginning with his own valuable personal collection of art, autographs, and books of all kinds, between Europe and North America, and to establish free publicly-funded libraries. It started when Vattemare first visited Boston in 1839 and unsuccessfully proposed that the various private libraries of the city’s many cultural institutions be united as one free public library. A second visit to America in 1848 allowed Vattemare to work with the Massachusetts state legislature to arrange funding for the establishment of the Boston Public Library, a pivotal act in the creation of the modern public library. In 1956, UNESCO christened Vattemare as the founding father of the “start of organized exchanges between governments [which] begins with an organization that owed its existence neither to governments nor to its official treaties but it was the creation of a single private individual.” In 2007, the government of the City of Paris and the Boston Public Library collaborated to produce a wonderful bilingual exhibition, which this writer visited last June in Boston, “The Extravagant Ambassador: Alexandre Vattemare, The French Ventriloquist Who Changed the World.”
Harris, Lesley Ellen LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO YOUR COPYRIGHT QUESTIONS? CHECK OUT THESE VALUABLE RESOURCES (Information Outlook, vol. 11, no. 6, June 2007, pp. 86-87)
Full Text (ProQuest: password required)
Harris provides some useful tips for busy librarians who need to keep on top of copyright issues. Ideas include developing a written copyright policy for one's library, preparing a vetted bibliography, keeping a copyright reference shelf, and setting up news alerts. The article complements this issue of Information Outlook's cover story, "Copyright training in the corporate world"
which includes a useful sidebar by Maury Tepper, "Top 5 Copyright Myths" (no, everything on the Internet is NOT free). A useful case study can be found in June 2007 issue of Computers in Libraries: Oye, Karen “Zooming in on copyright with integrated library software services”
(vol. 27, no. 6, June 2007, pp. 16-22).
Dempsey, Kathy (compiler) A DOZEN PRIMERS ON IMPORTANT INFORMATION STANDARDS (Computers in Libraries, vol. 27, no. 4, April 2007, pp. 11-23)
Full Text (ProQuest: password required)
Computer in Libraries editor Dempsey has compiled 12 one-page summaries of the protocols, standards and codes underpinning library services. Her aim is to present complicated information in as "reader-friendly" a manner as possible. Topics covered include Atom, OpenSearch and MARC 21 / MARCXML.
THE STATE OF AMERICA’S LIBRARIES: A REPORT FROM THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.
American Library Association. April 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 19 pages]
This report presents the highlights of American libraries’ activities during 2006. The research found that public, school, and university libraries have flourished; investments in e-books increased by 68% from 2002 to 2004; and the public continued to show strong support for public libraries. But, school media centers suffered funding cuts over the past 12 months.
Additionally, over the past year, the library community has continued its strong defense of First Amendment rights of library users against government surveillance. It also received widespread acclaim for its efforts in restoring school libraries and media centers in the gulf coast regions after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
[Note: Contains copyrighted material.]
Toobin, Jeffrey GOOGLE'S MOON SHOT: THE QUEST FOR THE UNIVERSAL LIBRARY (New Yorker, February 5, 2007, pp. 30-35)
Full Text [html format]
WorldCat lists 32 million books in its database, and Google aims to scan at least that many, in line with its corporate philosophy, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". Book publishers can benefit from this, as searching will alert Google users to books of which they were not aware ("browse leads to buy"). Nevertheless several leading publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, seeking to stop its project on the grounds of copyright infringement. Toobin argues that Google and publishers are likely to settle out of court, with Google saying, "We'll pay". But that will force anyone else who wants to compete with Google to say the same thing, creating a huge barrier for new entrants into the field of book search. And this is worrying, as Google isn't infallible: YouTube, not Google, got video search right, and Technorati.com, not Google, got blog search right.
Drake, Mirriam ACADEMIC LIBRARIES ARE ALIVE AND THRIVING: INTERVIEWS WITH FOUR ACADEMIC LIBRARY DIRECTORS (Searcher, vol. 15, no. 1, January 2007, pp. 8-12)
Full Text (ProQuest: password required)
On one side, administrators wanting to replace libraries with Google, on the other, users with changed expectations: academic libraries need to transform themselves from the quiet, contemplative retreats of the past. Many are already doing so, and in this article Drake talks to Barbara Dewey, Ray English, Ken Frazier, and Paula Kaufman about the library as place, big deals, open access, institutional repositories and Google Scholar. Today's university library is envisaged as an academic commons, "an environment that nurtures learning, socialization, and scholarship."
LONG OVERDUE: A FRESH LOOK AT PUBLIC AND LEADERSHIP ATTITUDES ABOUT LIBRARIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
Public Agenda. Web posed January 4, 2007.
Full Text [pdf format, 84 pages]
“People love their libraries.” People see their libraries as the best-run institutions in the community. This opinion research study found that 80 percent of the respondents said that “all children should have a good, safe appealing library in their neighborhood.” However, some local political and business leaders feel that with home computers and the Internet, people may not see libraries as high priorities for their tax dollars.
Most importantly, what was heard “loud and clear from both leadership and the public was that the mission of libraries should remain much the same in terms of free and open access to all citizens and maintaining core library services—efficient and friendly librarians, current books and reference materials, programs for children and well-maintained buildings.”
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: 2004.
Barbara Holton, Kaleen Vaden, Patricia O’Shea. United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). November 2006.
Download the document [pdf format, 57 pages]
The selected findings and tables in this report, based on the 2004 Academic Libraries Survey, summarize services, staff, collections, and expenditures of academic libraries in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report includes a number of key findings:
- Reference Services: During a typical week in the fall of 2004, 1.4 million academic library reference transactions were conducted, including computer searches.
- Circulation: During Fiscal year (FY) 2004, there were 155.1 million circulation transactions from the general collections of academic libraries.
- Collections: At the end of FY 2004, 218 academic libraries held 1 million or more books, bound serials, and bound government documents.
- Expenditures: Academic libraries’ expenditures totaled $5.8 billion during FY 2004. During FY 2004, academic libraries spent $2.9 billion on salaries and wages, representing 51 percent of total library expenditures.
- Information Literacy: During 2003-04, about 34 percent of academic libraries reported that their postsecondary institution had incorporated information literacy into its strategic plan.
Wilcox, Kimberley, "GEAR UP YOUR RESEARCH GUIDES WITH THE EMERGING OPML CODES" (Computers in Libraries, Nov-Dec 2006, pp. 7-8; 46; 48).
View article on publisher's website
Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML) is not widely-adopted yet, but its ability to create dynamic research guides, with feeds of new titles from the library catalog and databases, latest headlines from selected blogs, etc. should attract the interest of reference librarians. Wilcox discusses how to start taking advantage of OPML even before the most popular RSS aggregators fully support it.
THE CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE & THE AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE PROCESS.
Ida A. Brudnick. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. June 14, 2006.
Download the document [pdf format, 13 pages]
This CRS report describes CRS itself -- its history, how it functions within Congress, and the types of products and services it provides. Wisconsin's Senator Robert LaFollette and Representative John M. Nelson led an effort to direct the establishment of a special reference unit within the Library in 1914. Later known as the Legislative Reference Service, it was charged with responding to congressional requests for information. In 1970, Congress enacted a law transforming the Legislative Reference Service into the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and directing CRS to devote more of its efforts and increased resources to performing research and analysis that assists Congress in direct support of the legislative process.
Together with two other congressional support agencies, the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service offers research and analysis to Congress on all current and emerging issues of national policy. CRS analysts work exclusively for Congress, providing assistance in the form of reports, memoranda, customized briefings, seminars, videotaped presentations, information obtained from automated data bases, and consultations in person and by telephone. This work is governed by requirements for confidentiality, timeliness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and nonpartisanship.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES: FISCAL YEAR 2004.
Adrienne Chute, P. Elaine Kroe, Patricia O'Shea, Terri Craig, Michael Freeman, Laura Hardesty, Joanna Fane McLaughlin, and Cynthia Jo Ramsey. United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). August 2006.
Full Report [pdf format, 196 pages]
Full Report Excluding Appendices [pdf format, 134 pages]
This report, based on data from the Public Libraries Survey for fiscal year 2004, includes national and state summary data on public libraries in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It includes information on population of geographic service areas, types of service outlets, public service hours, library materials, total circulation, circulation of children's materials, reference transactions, library visits, children's program attendance, interlibrary loans, electronic services and information, full-time-equivalent staff, operating revenue and expenditures, and capital expenditures.
Among the findings of the report are the following:
- Public libraries served 97 percent of the total population of the states and the District of Columbia, either in legally established geographic service areas or in areas under contract.
- In FY 2004, 81 percent of public libraries had one single direct-service outlet (an outlet that provides service directly to the public). Nineteen percent had more than one direct-service outlet. Types of direct-service outlets include central library outlets, branch library outlets, and bookmobile outlets.
- Eleven percent of public libraries had an average number of weekly public service hours per outlet of less than 20 hours, 39 percent had weekly public service hours per outlet of 20-39 hours, and 49 percent had weekly public service hours per outlet of 40 hours or more.
- Nationwide, library visits to public libraries totaled 1.3 billion, or 4.7 library visits per capita.
- Nationwide, the average per capita operating expenditure for public libraries was $30.49. By state, the highest average per capita operating expenditure was $53.12, and the lowest was $13.24.
Williams, Lesley MAKING "E" VISIBLE (Library Journal, vol. 131, no. 11, June 15, 2006, pp. 40-43)
View article on publisher's website
Williams cites a 2002 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey
on the impact of the internet on college students' life, which reports that 55 percent of students agree that Google provides worthwhile information, compared with 31 percent for library databases. She argues that that problem isn't that librarians are not promoting their online resources -- in fact, they are working hard to do so -- but rather that their efforts are not having much effect. For most users, it is simply easier to Google than to remember to go to their library's website, find the right database, and then remember the username and password. Creative ideas are needed, Williams argues, and vendors also need to come on board.
Boyd, Kate Foster; Creighton, Alma BUILDING A DIGITAL LIBRARY ON A SHOESTRING (Computers in Libraries, vol. 26, no. 6, June 2006, pp. 14-20
View article on ProQuest (password required)
Libraries that are keen to build a digital library but have been put off by the costs or lack of sufficient in-house IT resources and skills, may find some useful tips here. Ultimately, the key to success lies in effectively meeting the needs of one's users, but along the way there are a number of steps one can take to keep such a project within budget.
LONG OVERDUE: A FRESH LOOK AT PUBLIC AND LEADERSHIP ATTITUDES ABOUT LIBRARIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
Public Agenda. June 2006.
Full Report [pdf format, 84 pages]
This survey finds that Americans prize public library service and see libraries as potential solutions to many communities' most pressing problems -- from universal access to computers to the need for better options for keeping teens safe and productive. Four areas of opportunity resonated most with the public and leaders alike:
- providing stronger services for teens,
- helping address illiteracy and poor reading skills among adults,
- providing ready access to information about government services, including making public documents and forms readily available, and
- providing even greater access to computers for all. Forty-five percent give an "A" to their local community for maintaining well-run libraries, far ahead of any other community institutions, including schools, parks and police. Higher-income families are even more likely to use public libraries than low-income families.
Most Americans (78%) say that if their library shut down because of lack of funding they would feel "that something essential and important has been lost, affecting the whole community." In contrast, just 17% said "while something important was lost, it really only affects a few people in the community" and only 3% said "the loss would not be important." Few Americans are aware of the increasingly tenuous financial picture faced by many libraries. Most would support higher taxes to fund libraries, but the report says that libraries need to make the case.
[Note: Contains copyrighted materials.]
THE STATE OF AMERICA'S LIBRARIES
American Library Association, April 2006
Contents
Full report [pdf format, 13 pages]
According to the press release
, this report "examines the expanding role libraries play in the social, political and economic environment of our rapidly changing world. It explores Americans' perceptions and use of public libraries, funding for all types of libraries, the results and reach of technology in libraries and more. More than 135 million adults visited American public libraries last year, and students made 1.5 billion visits to school libraries during the school year." American Library Association president Michael Gorman is quoted as saying, "Millions of people still borrow books, but beyond that, today's libraries are resource and community centers, widely used and enthusiastically supported by a growing proportion of Americans."
Kuzyk, Raya A READER AT EVERY SHELF (Library Journal, vol. 131, no. 3, February 15, 2006, pp. 32-35)
View article on ProQuest (password required)
Public libraries in the U.S. are using blogs, live chat and other tools to encourage readers to go beyond bestseller lists and explore the deeper reaches of their collections. Kuzyk highlights a range of tools such as Whichbook.net
and DearReader.com
, but does not ignore tech-free solutions.
IN ELECTRONIC AGE, AMERICANS’ USE OF LIBRARY SERVICES GROWS
American Library Association Media Relations, February 22, 2006
Press release
Survey results [pdf format, 13 pages]
"A new national study from the American Library Association (ALA) finds that Americans overwhelmingly are very satisfied with their public libraries, agree more public library funding is needed and believe public libraries will be needed in the future. Two-thirds of adult Americans (roughly 135 million people) visited their public libraries last year." — from the press release
Goldberg, Beverly WHY SCHOOL LIBRARIES WON'T BE LEFT BEHIND (American Libraries, vol. 36, no. 8, September 2005, pp. 38-41)
View article on ProQuest (password required)
School libraries are being cut back in America, despite research that clearly indicates that good school libraries staffed with a certified school librarian and with good materials do affect school achievement. Goldberg notes that the recently formed American Libraries Association Task Force on School Libraries (click here
for ALA press release) has "its work cut out for it". She argues that school librarians need to get their message across to administrators and politicians, quoting library advocate Patience Rogge: "School librarians are being cut because they don't speak up for themselves."
LIBRARIES AND THE USA PATRIOT ACT [RS21441]
Charles Doyle. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Updated July 6, 2005
Full text available from your nearest IRC
While this controversial law contains no provisions specifically directed at libraries or their patrons, it does have several provisions that might apply in a library context. The extent to which these provisions have been put into practice is not clear, however.
Engard, Nicole C. FOLLOWING THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO SIMPLIFIED LINK MANAGEMENT (Computers in Libraries, Vol. 25, No. 4, April 2005, pp. 11-15)
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Engard, Web manager at the Jenkins Law Library, the oldest law library in America, describes how she used open source software to develop a database to maintain her library's links. Of interest to any library that is considering converting its web site from HTML to a scripting language such as PHP.