Tag Archives: Digital Divide

2012 Study highlights provision of innovative technology despite budget cuts

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With the release of the 2011-2012 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, libraries have access to current national and state data and supporting anecdotal evidence that can help library staff and trustees advocate for support for technology infrastructure and resources.

The new report highlights how strategic vision and careful management have helped U.S. public libraries weather the storm of the Great Recession, supporting their role as a lifeline to the technology resources and training essential to social inclusion and full participation in the nation’s economy. However, the report underscores the competing concerns that face America’s libraries: cumulative budget cuts which threaten access to libraries and services, increasing demand for technology training and the chronic presence of the digital divide.

 Key findings include:

  • 62% of public libraries report that they are the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities, with an increase to 70% in rural communities.
  • For FY2012, 57 percent of libraries report flat or decreased operating budgets, while at the same time, 60 percent of libraries report increased use of public Internet computers.
  • 76% of libraries offer access to e-books, an increase of 9% from last year.
  • 39% percent of libraries provide e-readers for check-out by patrons.
  • 91% of public libraries provide free Wi-Fi, and 74% of libraries report use of Wi-Fi increased in 2011
  • For the third year in a row, 40% of state libraries report decreased state funding for public libraries.
  • 65% of libraries report having an insufficient number of public computers to meet demand, this increases to 87% in urban libraries.

More key findings are outlined in the Executive Summary, the key findings handout, and this infographic:

 We hope you’ll take the time to look through the full report, which includes state-by-state analysis on public library technology resources, and an illuminating qualitative component from interviews with library directors and staff in Georgia and Idaho.

 Over the new few weeks we’ll highlight different sections of the report, as well as introduce you to the resources we’ve developed to help you use the PLFTAS data to advocate for your own library.

 Thank you to the staff at the 7,252 public libraries that completed this year’s survey. The time you took to provide the data in this report offers valuable information for national, state, and local policymakers, library advocates, researchers, practitioners, government and private funding organizations, and others to understand the impact, issues, and needs of libraries providing public access computing.

Score 1 (or more) for the Digital Divide and 0 for Florida public libraries

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We have discussed the digital divide implications between rural and urban/suburban settings noting how rural public libraries struggle to provide adequate broadband and information technology (IT) support. The Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) data demonstrate this struggle. Recent events in Florida suggest that strategies to reduce the rural digital divide – or at least the role that libraries can play in reducing that divide – will remain difficult.

Some background is in order. Last week Governor Rick Scott vetoed $1.5 million that would support multi-type library cooperatives (MLC) covering different regions in the state. Due to the recession, many public libraries in Florida have had budget cuts of 30-40 percent And over recent years, State Aid to libraries has been reduced significantly to the minimum amount that allows the State to qualify for Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grants to State Library Administrative Agencies.

While the $1.5 million veto may not sound like much money, the pain likely will be felt disproportionately in rural areas since many of the rural libraries depend on their MLC for a range of IT access, training, and support. As part of this blog, I interviewed a number of Florida public librarians for their assessment of the veto on the digital divide in Florida.

One person commented that the veto was an “insult to injury” given previous cuts and listed a range of IT services, staff, training, and support that likely would be reduced in her rural library. Another thought that the support they had been receiving from their MLC “made the difference” between mediocre and above average IT services. Yet another noted that maintaining high-speed broadband and support services may now become a “luxury.” Still another noted that probably 97% of all the training her library staff received came from her MLC. Other stories and testimonials abound.

We have all read the various strategies and heard the exhortations about how libraries can reduce the digital divide, provide public access to a range of broadband and IT services, offer a range of IT and broadband training, work/collaborate with other community organizations and residents, etc. While these strategies are great ones, at the end of the day, resources (i.e., money) are needed to make these services happen.

Data related to the 2010-2011 PLFTAS on the urban-rural digital divide will be updated in the soon-to-be-released 2011-2012 PLFTAS. These will be most interesting in terms of trends and the degree to which this digital divide between rural vs. urban/suburban is being reduced, or not. But since the data were collected in the fall of 2011, the impact of Governor’s Scott veto on funding Florida MLCs and their support for rural libraries’ IT-related services and training, for example, will not be represented.

As many states complete their annual legislative session this month, we’d all like to hear how individual states fared this year in public library funding. So take a moment to post a quick comment to this blog summarizing how the budget wars affected libraries and the digital divide in your state. Will libraries be better off in your state this time next year?

Despite the anguish and teeth-gnashing of many librarians here in Florida, they will continue to fight the good fight and try to reduce the impact of the digital divide as best they can – especially in rural settings. The veto will just make that task more difficult to accomplish.

But there are a number of very clear conclusions as to reducing the digital divide: first, there has to be political will at all jurisdictional levels that recognizes that the digital divide exists; second, cuts in resources to libraries only make the digital divide worse; and third, people without access to high-speed broadband and related services – whether from the library or not – are disenfranchised residents of this country.

Dr. McClure is the President of Information Management Consultant Services, LLC, imcscrm@attglobal.net

The broadband challenge for rural public libraries

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In Beverly Choltco-Devlin’s December 17, 2011 reply to my earlier digital divide posting, she correctly identifies a range of “challenges” that face rural public libraries in providing high-speed broadband to their users and then concludes:

…for many of those living in geographically remote rural areas with limited infrastructure or those who suffer greatly from the current economic crisis, I believe the local public library is the place of ONLY resort for equal access to information and the ONLY HOPE for closing the digital divide.

I stand corrected from my December 13 posting in which I stated that many “public libraries were increasingly becoming the place of both first resort and last resort to address the digital divide and obtain Internet training/assistance.” Maybe the correct wording is “first resort, last resort, and oftentimes the ONLY resort!”

Tables 21 and 22 in the 2010-2011 Public Library Funding and Technology Access Survey document the extent to which residents relying on rural public libraries are handicapped in their use of and access to broadband and the quality of broadband access available to them:

  • 66% of urban public libraries have a fiber broadband connection while only 22% of rural public libraries have a fiber connection;
  • 22% of urban public libraries have a 10-20 megabit per second (Mbps) connection while only 6% of rural public libraries have a 10-20 Mbps connection; and
  • While 21% of urban public libraries have a broadband connection greater than 40 Mbps, only 6% of rural public libraries can boast of such a connection.

Similar discrepancies are also found in urban versus rural public library information technology staffing, Internet training and programming, total workstations, wireless connections, and general resource support for high-speed broadband access and services.

Yet, interestingly enough, a recent paper found that some U.S. rural libraries have been able to take leadership positions in their communities for broadband access and use. Considering broadband a community asset, coordinating local organizations’ use of broadband (e.g., schools, county health departments, local government, etc.), promoting training and education, and fighting for equitable (cheaper) broadband contracts with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are all part of the formula.

While ISP availability and speed are critically important, our research shows that one of the most important elements for successful rural broadband public library access and use, oftentimes, is the presence of a dynamic, innovative, and charismatic public library director (or other librarian) who has great credibility and visibility with other community leaders, organizations, and local residents.

Once again, individuals can and do make a difference—and clearly some individual rural public library directors and staff maximize residents’ access to and use of the Internet whether access is the first resort, the last resort, or the ONLY resort —even with all the challenges and difficulties they must overcome!

But despite how good these rural public librarians might be, we also need the US government through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to make good on one of its 2012 new year resolutions, which is “Expanding High Speed Internet Access and Adoption,” while noting that 1 in 3 US households lack high-speed Internet service—some 100 million Americans. We’ll probe more into rural public library high-speed broadband provision and issues in a future posting.

New study on Internet use at home ties to the impact of libraries

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In casual conversation with family and friends, questions regarding the need for and future of libraries continue to come up. While presenting stats on increased circulation and visits are somewhat of a surprise, what really gets jaws to drop is the fact that almost one-third of Americans do not have high speed internet access at home. Those in the conversation quickly grasp the challenges faced by the “have-nots.” This is always a great tie-in when highlighting the importance of libraries in providing essential services and bridging the digital divide.

Earlier this month the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released: Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home. No surprise that the digital divide still exists between different racial and ethnic groups and between urban and rural areas in the U.S. But the report notes that socio-economic differences, such as income and education, explain much-but not all – of this divide.

The study has so much rich information, with many illuminating graphs, that I’ll forgo listing out highlights and just recommend that you download the study. The study does report that at least 20 percent of individuals without broadband service at home rely on public libraries for access.

Following is the study’s snapshot of home Internet access:

So when libraries come up in the discussion around the holiday table, remember to share the big numbers, including the fact that in 65% of communities, the public library is the sole source for free access to computers and the Internet (73% in rural communities).  Trust me, you’ll see those jaws dropping.