Internet Access

The Internet has become a major tool for communication and for education and job-related tasks. Public libraries are one of the providers of Internet access to the public. This chapter provides information about the extent to which public library outlets provide access to the Internet to adults for their independent use, and barriers to providing such access.

Extent to Internet Access

Ninety-two percent of public library outlets reported providing Internet access to adults for their independent use (figure 3). Small outlets were less likely to provide Internet access than were medium-sized or large outlets (84 percent compared with 96 and 98 percent, respectively). No differences were observed by metropolitan status.

Barriers to Providing Internet Access

All library outlets were asked to what extent the following factors were barriers to providing Internet access to adults for their independent use: insufficient space for computers, insufficient number of computers with Internet access, insufficient number of telecommunications lines for Internet access, lack of library staff to assist Internet users, and lack of specialized training among library staff. Across all public library outlets, these factors were generally not perceived as being major barriers to providing Internet access; the percentage of outlets rating each factor as a major barrier ranged from 9 percent for lack of specialized training among library staff to 29 percent for insufficient space for computers (table 11). However, there were differences in perceived barriers between the library outlets that provided Internet access and those that did not. All of the factors were more likely to be identified as major barriers by library outlets that did not provide Internet access than by library outlets that did provide Internet access. For example, 71 percent of outlets not providing Internet access reported that insufficient space for computers was a major barrier, compared with 25 percent of library outlets providing Internet access.

In addition, there were some differences by library outlet characteristics in the extent to which specific factors were perceived as major barriers to providing Internet access to adults for their independent use. For four out of the five factors, small outlets were more likely than medium-sized or large outlets to perceive the factor as a major barrier to providing Internet access (table 12). The fifth factor, lack of specialized training among library staff, was more likely to be perceived as a major barrier by small outlets than by large outlets. The only difference by metropolitan status was that outlets in rural areas were more likely than outlets in suburban or urban areas to perceive lack of specialized training among library staff as a major barrier.

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