ALA President Loriene Roy and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels discuss America's libraries

ALA-APA Director Jenifer Grady discusses National Library Workers' Day (NLWD)

Denise Davis, ORS Director, discusses library services and programs for non-English speakers

AASL Executive Director Julie Walker discusses school libraries

Still the place to go for Internet and many other services

Students and others continued to flock to public libraries in 2007 seeking greater access to computers and the Internet. Meanwhile, financial support lagged.  

In a 2007 study, 73 percent of public libraries reported that they were the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities. Surveyed libraries said the three Internet services most critical to their community were online educational resources and databases for K-12 students (67.7 percent), services for job-seekers (44 percent), and computer and Internet skills training (29.8 percent).

The Community Resource Center of the Washoe County (Nevada) Library System, for example, helped Stephanie D’Arcy, who hadn’t had full-time employment for several months, land a job with the local parks and recreation department. “I needed guidance,” D’Arcy said. “The library staff offered me encouragement and assistance filling out the application, including pointing out transferable skills I could list, plus some tips for interviewing. If it were not for the library’s help, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Library staff interviewed as part of the study, “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2006-2007,” reported a dramatic increase in the number of job applicants required to apply online for employment. Seventy of the top 100 U.S. retailers accept online applications for hourly positions, 71 percent more than in 2004, and 16 accept only online applications, according to a 2006 study from Taleo Research. But libraries are there to help long before the application is filed. They offer job-seekers technology training, workshops on writing résumés and cover letters and on filling out online job applications, and tips on establishing email accounts to monitor the status of applications. The study also showed that growing patron demand for these services has stretched existing Internet bandwidth, computer availability, and building infrastructure to capacity.

All but a tiny fraction of public libraries offer free public access to the Internet, but because budgets have not kept up with patron demand, many libraries are challenged to provide enough computers or fast-enough connection speeds to meet community need. In fact, 58 percent of public libraries reported that they have no plans to add computers in 2008, fewer than half plan to replace old computers, and 52 percent said Internet access speeds were inadequate.

Thousands of libraries across the country also have reached, or are nearing, their maximum capacity for space. Seventy-six percent of public libraries reported that space limitations are the top factor affecting their ability to add computers, while 31 percent reported that lack of space for electrical outlets and cabling limited their capacity for technology infrastructure.

“Millions of Americans rely on their public library to find jobs, further their education, learn English, get e-government information, and more,” Allan Golston, president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s U.S. Program, said in a press release. “Our nation must continue to support public libraries and ensure they are able to provide information and opportunities for all people.”

The study, conducted by the ALA and the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University and funded by the Gates Foundation and the ALA, collected data through surveys from more than 4,000 public libraries, more than 40 chief officers of state library agencies, and focus groups and site visits in Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, and Utah. The final report is available at http://www.ala.org/ala/ors/plftas/0607report.cfm.

Hoosiers recognize the value of their public libraries

A report issued late in 2007 by Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business concludes that public libraries are a good value, serving as “an important channel for literacy, education and information.” The report estimated the total market value of goods and services delivered by the state’s public libraries to be $629.9 million, a return of $2.38 on each dollar of investment.

 

Farewell, Harry Potter — how libraries loved ye ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Libraries across the country gleefully geared up for Harry Potter mania, as young readers eagerly awaited the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final installment in J.K. Rowling’s blockbuster book series. Many libraries hosted parties into the night, featuring food, games, and movies, all leading to the release of the book at the stroke of midnight. Adding to the high drama, Scholastic, the book’s U.S. publisher, imposed strict rules on libraries that received the book before its release date. — Adapted from American Libraries

This represents “a very conservative and defendable estimate of the value Hoosiers derive from their libraries,” said Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the Indiana Business Research Center and co-author of the report.

The study was based on an economic-impact analysis, a benefit-cost analysis of library services, and surveys of public library patrons and staff, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Jan. 8, 2008). The researchers also conducted case studies of 12 local libraries, which included interviews with business leaders, public school officials, and local development officials. Identified benefits of public libraries included information and support to businesses, job-search assistance, introduction of new technology, and enhanced attractiveness of the community because of its cultural and educational assets.

Youth use school and public libraries regularly, study shows

More than 90 percent of youth age 8-18 nationwide have both a public library and a school library in their community, and 78 percent of them have a library card. (Girls age 10-15 are the head of the class in this regard — more than 80 percent have a card.) Regionally, youngsters who live in the East are more likely to have a library card than those who live in the South (82 percent vs. 73 percent), according to a Harris Youth Poll survey conducted in June 2007. The study was conducted by the Young Adult Library Services Association, an ALA division, and underwritten by the ALA Office for Research & Statistics.

Nor do the cards go unused. More than 80 percent of youth age 8-18 say they have been to the library in the past year, and 18 percent say they have been more than 20 times. Visits were about evenly divided between the public library or its Web site and the school library or its Web site. Among youth who visited a public library, 57 percent did so at least monthly. School libraries were used more often: 78 percent of the youth interviewed said they visited at least monthly.

 And why do they visit? Borrowing books for both personal and school assignments are the top two reasons. More than three-fourths (78 percent) visit public libraries for personal use and two-thirds for school assignments; with school libraries, the proportions are reversed, with three-fourths visiting in connection with school assignments and three in five for personal use.

Going to the library without going to the library

More and more frequently, patrons access public-library services from remote locations. More than half of American adults said they had visited a local public library in the past 12 months, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and a survey conducted in 2006 by KRC Research and Consulting reported that 12 percent of the 1,000 people interviewed “visited” their local public library by phone and 12 percent by computer. Among those who visited by phone or computer, 41 percent did so to renew borrowed items, 48 percent to consult a librarian for help, 45 percent to check the library’s computerized catalogue, and 42 percent to use other resources on the library’s Web page.

Growing problem: Replacing Baby Boomer retirees

Despite the fact that U.S. News & World Report (Dec. 19, 2007) lists the library profession as one of the top 31 careers with bright futures, recruitment and retention is a growing issue for public libraries, Jan Sanders, president of the Public Library Association, said in an interview. “We are facing a huge bubble of Baby Boomer retirees,” Sanders said, “and we are now asking, ‘Where are the new librarians going to come from?’” A number of people are joining the profession as a second career, she said, and while they bring with them a refreshing range of backgrounds, they do little to alleviate the long-term shortage. (See the ORS report, “Library Retirements — What We Can Expect,” which is available on line.)

The PLA is also urging its members to become better at advocacy, Sanders said. “This means going to the Capitol and walking the halls, but it also means much more than that.” The PLA is a division of the ALA.

Survey shows that 70-plus percent of public libraries support gaming

In an era in which sales of games have outpaced box office sales, some libraries have been turning to gaming activities as a way of attracting new patrons. In one of the first studies that attempts to track this trend (The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse), Scott Nicholson of Syracuse University found that at least 70 percent of libraries support gaming and that about

80 percent allow patrons to play games on library computers; that only about 20 percent of libraries circulate games, but that about 40 percent of libraries run in-house gaming programs — with all categories showing substantial variations according to library size.

 

Gamers get their due ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Libraries — including the august Library of Congress — made it clear in 2007 that video games are no longer the exclusive province of nerdy teenage boys with an aversion to natural light. As the ranks of gamers diversified across age and gender boundaries, ALA TechSource hosted 325 attendees at its first Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, held July 22-24 in Chicago. The Library of Congress took notice, announcing Aug. 3 that it was funding a partnership of four universities and Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, in the Preserving Virtual Worlds project to explore methods to preserve digital games and interactive fiction. — American Libraries

Nicholson’s spring 2007 phone survey of 400 randomly selected U.S. public libraries defined gaming broadly and included games of all types from board and card to Web-based and video games. Nicholson posits that online “games are just an extension of gaming activities already supported in libraries.

“Libraries that support the recreational needs of patrons through fiction or movies are simply extending these services to . . . a growing sector of the population,” he says.

Or as Jenny Levine observed in her 2006 Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services, published by the ALA: “Gaming provides a wealth of service intersections for libraries today and for the libraries of the future. And that future is all about opportunities and weaving together threads, both old and new.”

Gaming @ our library? It might be good for business

Library size	Supports gaming	Runs gaming programs	Circulates games*	Lets patrons play on computers
< 3,001	76%	38%	17%	80%
3,001-10,000	77%	39%	17%	82%
10,001-50,000	87%	50%	27%	92%
> 50,000	88%