In this book, we also specifically examine the social roles of public libraries in terms of the service roles through which public libraries attempt to influence their patrons and their communities. Service roles have also radically changed patron, community and government expectations for public libraries.
The Development of the
15 For many years, the public library has held a unique, socially important position in American society. This elitist attitude was reflected in the selection of public library materials for the better public.
Social Roles of Public Libraries
Simply put, as the nation matured, the social role of the public library matured from a repository of texts to a marketplace of ideas (Heckart 1991). However, all these potential service roles will encourage the broad social role of the public library as the marketplace of ideas and information.
Internet Access in Social Roles of Public Libraries
As this book describes, the results of the survey also reveal a great deal about the social roles of public libraries in providing Internet access and related technologies. These questions were designed to provide insight into how the provision of Internet access and services impacts on the established social roles of public libraries.
Internet Services and Training in Social Roles of Public Libraries
The target audiences of information technology training services offered to patrons reveal much about the social roles that public libraries are trying to fulfill in relation to the Internet. These types of connections can increase the importance of the library to these local organizations as a source of access to information and technology. Most public libraries offer online training for library staff members, with such training coming from libraries, consortia, state libraries, vendors, volunteers, and other sources.
In several areas that are important for the public library's social roles as a market for ideas, staff training is limited.
Policy and the Internet in Social Roles of Public Libraries
As noted earlier, nearly 75% of public libraries reported that in their community, the public library is the only source of free public access to the Internet (McClure, Jaeger, and Bertot 2007). This means that public libraries really do guarantee public access to e-government in the United States. As Table 15 indicates, the vast majority of public libraries (78.5%) provide access to and assistance with government websites, programs, and services.
The most common reasons included the application process being too complicated (37.8%), the amount of funding not worth the time needed to apply (36%) and CIPA's filtering requirements being considered unacceptable (33.9%) .
Patron, Community, and Government Expectations and Professional Values
That users who have other access to the Internet continue to rely on public libraries for access and assistance is indicative of the depth of social expectations of Internet access in public libraries. 10 steps to help you fill your grocery bag through the food stamp program is using the internet tool. The current values of libraries and of the profession of librarians have also been clearly shaped by the increasing importance of the Internet in library services.
The study of the role of values in libraries is essential, especially given the increasing role of technology in public libraries (Fleischmann 2007).
Implications of Internet-Enabled Roles
Resource sharing (national, regional and local) and consortium administration/delivery of internet-enabled services have significantly complicated public library service roles. Public libraries have always had to be concerned with federal, state, and local information policies, but this arena has expanded significantly with the advent of Internet-enabled service roles. In short, the move from public libraries to Internet-enabled service roles has numerous implications for the definition of public libraries and their role in society.
It should link internet-enabled service roles with larger social roles so that its importance increases in the network environment.
Community Needs, Service Roles, and Planning
Internet-enabled service roles have replaced these traditional roles, leading to a monumental change in the nature of public library social roles. The link between selected PLA service roles and responses and technology planning continues to be problematic for public librarians. A key issue for public library planners in the Internet-enabled service environment is therefore how best to integrate service planning as outlined in the 2008 manual (Nelson 2008) with technology planning as outlined in the 2005 manual (Mayo 2005).
The ability of public libraries to fulfill Internet-enabled service roles may be declining.
Selecting Internet-Enabled Service Roles
Adding Internet-enabled service roles in this environment will fail unless additional bandwidth can be obtained. These roles of Internet-enabled services could be expanded as the library was able to expand its IT infrastructure and network. Either way, the provision of Internet-enabled service roles must be supported by adequate library information technology infrastructure and network support.
Based on this process, both the library and the community can plan for the selection of the next set of Internet-enabled service roles.
The Future of Internet-Enabled Service Roles
Will public libraries' Internet-based services be able to compete with user-designed, socially networked and participatory services. To what extent will public librarians be able to develop exciting and dynamic Internet service roles that are participatory and successfully leverage social networking principles? These are just some of the challenges the future holds for successful evaluation of public library features that build on social networking applications.
But Internet-enabled service roles – and especially those involving social networks and participatory service roles –.
Challenges from Professional Resistance and Public Policy
Some have also suggested that certain aspects of the Internet and related technologies conflict with or undermine the established social role of public libraries as a marketplace of ideas. Of course, resistance to or fear of the Internet and its consequences is not unique to libraries. The 2007 PLA study on the role of public libraries has already been widely discussed, but it is not the only one.
One area of agreement among proponents and critics of the Internet in public libraries is that it has profoundly shaped their social roles over the past twenty years.
If nothing else, it demonstrates the ambivalence with which many still view the Internet and related technologies in the meaning of public libraries. There are now clear societal expectations that public libraries should have Internet-enabled services and fulfill social roles based on these technologies. The success with which public libraries can effectively participate in providing Internet access and resources is related to the quality and sufficient bandwidth available in the library (Bertot and McClure 2007).
Findings from various studies suggest that public libraries that have reduced broadband access also have limitations on the range of Internet-enabled services and resources they can provide (American Library Association and Information Institute 2007).
Overall, the policy and technological environments surrounding broadband are extremely complex in the United States (Weiser 2008). This is especially true in providing large data sources such as those available from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (www.nasa.gov) or many of the Web 2.0 technologies that require large amounts of bandwidth for video. , audio, interactive. , and other social networking capabilities. There are several broadband information policy issues related to access, quality, cost, and availability (rural vs. urban areas) that affect the success with which public libraries can engage in meeting expectations for Internet-enabled services. .
P rIvacy
P ublIc a cceSS
It is clear that all these issues complicate the provision of Internet access and services in public libraries. These kinds of misunderstandings of the current societal capacities and roles of libraries, reflected in public policy, are compounded by resistance in the public library community to acknowledge the importance of Internet-enabled library roles and expectations. Public libraries are at the center of many of the debates regarding these policy issues.
To most effectively meet challenges posed by public policy, all members of the public library community must accept and recognize the essential importance of Internet-enabled service roles and expectations to the societal significance of public libraries.
Roles and Expectations in Research, Education, and Advocacy
To what extent, for example, do public libraries in the South-East have similar or different social and service roles than libraries in, for example, the North-West. Ultimately, this will enable a much greater number of public libraries to meet social and service roles and expectations regarding the Internet. Conduct research that advances understanding of and creates practical solutions for public libraries to meet Internet-enabled service roles and expectations.
Increase the number of LIS faculty members who specialize in the intersection of public libraries and the Internet.
Roles and Expectations and the Future of Public Libraries
Many libraries emphasize Internet-enabled service roles as part of established or new social roles that have redefined the purpose of the public library. Librarians can undertake specific strategies to better understand and respond to the movement toward Internet-enabled service roles and responses. Finding balance between traditional and Internet-enabled service roles and responses that recognize local situational factors will be a key challenge for public libraries in the future.
But it's equally important to recognize that public libraries currently offer and can expand a wide variety of Internet-enabled service roles and responses.
Effects of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) on public libraries and its implications for research: A statistical, policy, and legal analysis. Potential legal challenges to the use of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in public libraries: strategies and issues. Public Libraries, the Public Interest and the Information Society: Theoretical Issues in the Social Impact of Public Libraries.
Use the 'filter you were born with': The unconstitutionality of mandatory internet filtering for adult public library patrons.
Acknowledgments
Index
See also e-mail as an expected service; social network consortia and new service roles, 52 consumer information in response to services,.
