I'm glad to see someone else viewing this report with a little bit of skepticism. I think a lot of folks are making this out to be more of a ringing endorsement of library relevance than it really is.
One thing jumps out at me as really odd. Survey respondents were asked where they went for help in dealing with certain specific types of problems. The report notes that public libraries ranked dead last (7th of 7) categories, stating "13% said they went to the public library". The VERY NEXT SENTENCE of the abstract says "The survey results challenge the assumption that libraries are losing relevance in the internet age." Huh?? That just doesn't make sense.
Sure, there are some positive aspects to the report, but I don't think these aspects can be generalized to apply to library service beyond the somewhat narrow scope of the study. And aren't there other studies on this general topic that have been less positive?
Bernie Sloan
Karen Coyle <kcoyle_at_KCOYLE.NET> wrote:
As they say in Slashdot, RTFA -- the real content of the article is less
positive in terms of how libraries come out (although quite positive in
some areas). This is an interesting case of interpreting the numbers.
The overview says:
In a national phone survey, respondents were asked whether they had
encountered 10 possible problems in the previous two years, all of which
had a potential connection to the government or government-provided
information. Those who had dealt with the problems were asked where they
went for help and the internet topped the list:
# 58% of those who had recently experienced one of those problems said
they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other
place) to get help.
# 53% said they turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers or
financial experts.
# 45% said they sought out friends and family members for advice and help.
# 36% said they consulted newspapers and magazines.
# 34% said they directly contacted a government office or agency.
# 16% said they consulted television and radio.
# 13% said they went to the public library.
The survey results challenge the assumption that libraries are losing
relevance in the internet age. Libraries drew visits by more than half
of Americans (53%) in the past year for all kinds of purposes, not just
the problems mentioned in this survey.
***
So, 13% who were seeking information that might relate to government
provided information went to the public library (compared to 58% who
used the Internet). (The title here is "Information Searches that Solve
Problems.") I'm not exactly sure how this challenges "the assumption
that libraries are losing relevance in the internet age." That's quite a
point spread.
And note that in the text (p. vi) it says that many of those (65%) went
to the public library to use the computers (which I read to mean
Internet access) there.
The statement that 53% of all Americans used a public library in the
past year doesn't tell us what people use the public library for. It's
rather odd the way that figure is included in this report, because it
doesn't really address the question of the report. There's a chapter on
"who uses public libraries" but it's just users by age and income,
nothing about kinds of uses.
Very odd, I'd say, and I'm not sure their conclusions are borne out by
their data.
kc
Brenndorfer, Thomas wrote:
> Perhaps adding some perspective to the issue of library-related
> resources and finding aids vs. new Internet resources and tools is the
> latest PEW study
>
>
>
> http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp
>
>
>
> which shows that Internet-savvy Generation Y users (age 18-30) are the
> largest group of library users-a finding that challenges the assumption
> that libraries are losing relevance in the Internet age.
>
>
>
> As for thinking about the role of libraries (and archives), the
> following article about Canadian archives and the concern about the
> "lost decades" of electronic information shows that we need to keep in
> mind that finding aids are only useful in so far that the resources they
> point to are collected, processed, stored, organized, and made
> accessible-the age-old task of libraries and archives that one might
> think would be alleviated with advanced technology, but perhaps with
> every advance there are new problems.
>
>
>
> http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=758def11-7336-4
> fa8-9acf-61afd87adfbd&k=28075
>
>
>
>
>
> Thomas Brenndorfer, B.A, M.L.I.S.
>
> Guelph Public Library
>
> 100 Norfolk St.
>
> Guelph, ON
>
> N1H 4J6
>
> (519) 824-6220 ext. 276
>
> tbrenndorfer_at_library.guelph.on.ca
>
>
>
>
--
-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
------------------------------------
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Received on Mon Jan 07 2008 - 15:43:41 EST