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Drawing upon findings from a national survey of U.S. public libraries, this paper examines trends in Internet and public computing access in public libraries across states from 2004 to 2006. Based on library-supplied information about levels and types of Internet and public computing access, the authors offer insights into the network-based content and services that public libraries provide. Examining data from 2004 to 2006 reveals trends and accomplishments in certain states and geographic regions. This paper details and discusses the data, identifies and analyzes issues related to Internet access, and suggests areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtually every public library in the United States provides public access Internet computers as a role central to its mission. This article addresses the issue of why the Internet matters for public libraries, both in terms of impacts on the general public, particularly the digitally disadvantaged (part one of the article) and impacts on libraries themselves (part two of the article). Each part of this report begins with an extensive literature review, followed by a data analysis section. In part one, the author uses the 2000 United States Census dataset to evaluate library efforts to bridge the digital divide, by analyzing differences in the growth of public terminals in library systems serving counties with different levels of household income, households in poverty, non-white households, and non-English-speaking households. The analysis finds no disparity in the number of public computers available in areas with high and low incomes but finds a significant—and widening—disparity in the number of computers available in areas with a higher versus lower percentage of non-white and non-English-speaking households. In part two of the report, the author uses a random effects linear regression model to estimate the effects of Internet access on library usage. This analysis finds that having Internet terminals (versus having no Internet terminals) has a significant positive effect on a library's visits and reference transactions, but not on a library's circulation. An increase in the number of Internet terminals has no significant effect, positive or negative, on visits, reference transactions, or circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. IMPACT studies have two research projects underway that employ a mixed method research design to develop and validate performance indicators related specifically to the outcomes of public access computing (PAC) use in public libraries. Through the use of a nationwide telephone survey (n = 1130), four case studies, and a nationwide Internet survey of PAC users administered through 636 public libraries, this approach will generate generalizable quantitative data on the extent and distribution of the use of public access computing resources, as well as provide rich contextual data that will help understand how people use the computers and Internet connections in public libraries and the impact it has on their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of Public Access Computers (PAC) in libraries in the U.S. Patrons rely on PAC for popular services like Web browsing, word processing and electronic mail. However, PACs require regular maintenance and many PACs in use are nearing their end-of-life. At Coastal Resource Sharing Network (CRSN), they have begun implementing thin client technology. Of the 120 PACs in their consortium, 47 are thin clients, serving patrons in five libraries. The switch to thin clients has helped reduce the maintenance workload associated with PACs and has provided patrons with a consistent, always up-to-date- user experience.