Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), in conjunction with the American Library Association (ALA), will survey U.S. public library involvement with the Internet, the global inter-connected computer network. The 1997 study will provide detailed information on public library network costs and infrastructure.
The ALA/NCLIS quick-response mail survey will be conducted in May 1997. The 1997 survey is based on three previous NCLIS-sponsored studies of public libraries and the Internet which showed an increase in public library Internet connectivity of 113% between 1994 and 1996. The National Commission used these survey research results in commenting to the Federal Communications Commission regarding plans for universal telecommunication service discounts for libraries as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Dr. John Carlo Bertot, Assistant Professor at the Department of Information Systems, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Dr. Charles R. McClure, Distinguished Professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, are the 1997 survey investigators.
The study's findings will provide policy makers, various stakeholder groups, and the library community with the ability to determine the relationships between public library Internet-related costs, services, information technology infrastructure, and types of populations served for public library electronic networked services by collecting the following data on public libraries:
In addition the survey results will be used to: (1) inform the FCC's Universal Service rulemaking process; (2) provide policy makers, various stakeholder groups, and library professionals with information as to how best to leverage local and state IT initiatives to provide public library-based public access Internet access; (3) assist public libraries develop IT plans that incorporate electronic networked services, to include the means through which to apply for the preferential connectivity rates for public libraries currently under consideration by the FCC; and (4) identify public library roles and capabilities in the evolving National Information Infrastructure (NII).
A sample of public library systems will be selected from the Federal-State Cooperative System (FSCS) for Public Library Data 1994 Universe File of public libraries, an NCLIS/National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) cooperative program in its tenth consecutive year. A high response rate from surveyed libraries will be essential for the success of the study.
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science is a permanent, independent agency of the federal government composed of sixteen members. The fourteen appointed members serve five-year terms. The two ex officio members are the Librarian of Congress and the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. NCLIS is charged by law (P.L. 91-345) to advise the President and Congress on national and international library and information services policies and plans.
View the survey in pdf format http://research.umbc.edu/~bertot/1997survey.final.pdf