Moving Toward More Effective Public Internet Access

Download or read book Moving Toward More Effective Public Internet Access written by John Carlo Bertot and published by National Commission. This book was released on 1999 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication reports on research conducted to follow up on a 1997 survey of public libraries and the Internet, co-sponsored by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the American Library Association. The 1998 survey is based on a sample of 2,500 of the nation's 15,718 public library outlets. The survey found that 73.3% of public library outlets now offer public access to the Internet. However, only 68.6% offer graphical public Internet access to the World Wide Web (WWW) and only 45.3% offer graphical public access to the WWW at speeds of 56 kbps or greater. The first section contains background information: the Telecommunications Act of 1996; public policy debate; information technology, Internet and the digital economy; and public libraries as a public point of Internet presence. The second section presents the results of the 1998 survey: availability of public Internet access; public Internet access for areas with varying levels of poverty; public Internet access for urban, suburban, and rural areas; graphical public Internet access; bandwidth as a component of public Internet access; defining effective public Internet access; key measures connectivity and public Internet access, 1996-1998; number of graphical workstations as a component of effective access; use of filtering software and availability of an acceptable use policy for public Internet access. The third section discusses findings, policy issues, and commission responses: supporting ongoing surveys on public libraries and the Internet; initiating a dialog on effective public Internet access; and identifying policy questions and promoting additional research. The last section is a bibliography of 8 statistical studies funded by the commission. Five appendices contain: summary results; the survey instrument; the survey methodology; the survey results; and the contractor's analysis of the survey results. Includes 56 tables of figures.(DLS)