ALA presents preliminary results from Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study

Contact: Larra Clark

Project Manager

312-280-2129

For Immediate Release

May 29, 2007

ALA presents preliminary results from
 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study

CHICAGO - Starting in June, the American Library Association (ALA) will begin sharing results from the 2007 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study. Preliminary data will appear in a postcard inserted in the June/July centennial issue of American Libraries, and initial findings will be presented to the study advisory committee Saturday, June 23, at 9 a.m. in Washington Convention Center Room 149A. The postcards also will be available at the ALA Annual Conference, June 21-27.

Among the 2007 findings:

* More than half (54.2 percent) of U.S. public libraries now offer free wireless access

* Library staff in more than half of public libraries provide assistance to patrons applying for or accessing e-government

* Sixty-eight percent of libraries offer online homework resources – serving the educational needs of more than 36 million school-age children

The Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study will assess public access to computers, the Internet and Internet-related services in U.S. public libraries, as well as the impact of library funding changes on connectivity, technology deployment and sustainability in FY2007-2009.

The final 2007 report will be available online and as a print-on-demand book in September 2007. More information, including links to more than a decade of related research on public libraries and the Internet conducted by the Information Institute at FloridaStateUniversity, is available at www.ala.org/plinternetfunding.

The project is made possible by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the American Library Association. The survey is conducted by the Information Institute.