{"id":486152,"date":"2010-03-29T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/report_last_bastion_of_the_bookworm_becomes_intern.php"},"modified":"2010-03-29T16:13:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T20:13:00","slug":"report-last-bastion-of-the-bookworm-becomes-internet-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/486152","title":{"rendered":"Report: Last Bastion of the Bookworm Becomes Internet Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 15 years ago, libraries were still primarily a place to go check out the printed, bound word. Only 28% offered Internet access, whereas today, almost all public libraries offer access and are helping to bridge the digital divide, according to a report by the University of Washington<\/a> on Internet use in libraries across the country.<\/p>\n

According to the report, “The wiring of public libraries has transformed one of the nation’s most established community resources into a critical digital hub”.<\/p>\n

Sponsor<\/em>
<\/a><\/p>\n

Every year, 169 million people visit their local public library and 45% of them access the Internet, according to the report. The report, which focuses on the numbers of people 14-years old and older, is based on nearly 50,000 surveys from patrons of more than 400 public libraries across the country. <\/p>\n

As Seth Godin pointed out<\/a> last January, libraries “can’t survive<\/a> as community-funded repositories for books that individuals don’t want to own” and that the “number one thing they deliver to their patrons is free DVD rentals.” <\/p>\n

Now, we can add “Internet access” to the top of the list, as “Internet access is now one of the most sought after public library services,” according to the report.<\/p>\n

The report notes that patrons use the Internet for a variety of tasks – from job searches to civic participation to finance to school kids doing their homework – but offers an interesting stat right off the bat: Of those people using the Internet at the library, “more than three-quarters of these people had Internet access at home, work, or elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

The library, it would seem, offers a respite from the coffee shop, a refuge from familial fights over the single home computer and an alternative to the dizzyingly slow dial-up Internet that so many still have to deal with. But what are they doing with this new found Internet provider?<\/p>\n

\"libary-uses.JPG\"<\/p>\n

Another telling number was that 60% of respondents said they use library computers to maintain “social connections,” and we can’t help but wonder if libraries are giving people a safe place to Facebook-lurk. That is, many places of employment and schools ban social networks – are libraries a way around that for workers and teens?<\/p>\n

Overall though, the report does seem to show that libraries are a “technological lifeline to children and families in need”, with 44% of people in households below the federal poverty line using public libraries for Internet access. And while we may make fun of Facebook occasionally, social networking can be a key tool in finding employment and networking. But beyond that, we can see that employment, education and health information are among the top use cases.<\/p>\n

In the end, the report calls for continued support for a public system that seems to be the biggest bridge for the digital divide<\/a>. It is certainly a shift in focus, but we hope that any hard feelings over digital taking away from the printed word don’t get in the way of keeping public libraries funded.<\/p>\n

As the report reads, “The findings signal this is a moment when federal, state, and local governments should invest more, not less, in the computing capacity of the nation’s libraries to help advance a wide range of policy goals.”<\/p>\n

Discuss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/img><\/a>
\n<\/img><\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 15 years ago, libraries were still primarily a place to go check out the printed, bound word. Only 28% offered Internet access, whereas today, almost all public libraries offer access and are helping to bridge the digital divide, according to a report by the University of Washington on Internet use in libraries across the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}