Although patrons haven't exactly stampeded most public libraries for an unexpurgated peek at Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's report online, the media has flocked there under the assumption that users would, librarians told ALA's Public Information Office last week.
Public libraries from such far-flung areas as Fargo, North Dakota; Bloomington, Illinois; and San Jose, California reported a few patrons asking about the report, as well as contacts from reporters hoping for long lines at the terminals. SJPL's Lorraine Oback recounted, "When the local TV station showed up to get some video footage of people using Internet terminals, a few people got up and left."
One library people did swarm to, albeit unknowingly, was the Oklahoma state library, which began offering a downloadable zip file of the Starr report shortly after it appeared online September 11. Several hours later, the acclaimed Yahoo search engine had linked to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries site; three days later, Web editor Bill Young had tallied more than 116,000 hits—more than double the average number of visits per month all summer.
Posted September 21, 1998.