Public Libraries and the Internet: Roles, Perspectives, and Implications

The impact of the Internet and related technologies extends to library patrons, practitioners, administrators, and policymakers. It affects public library funding, community expectations, and social perceptions about the roles of public libraries. How have libraries adapted so far? What does the future hold?

Public Libraries and the Internet Roles, Perspectives, and Implications explores the impact of the Internet and the expansion of the networked environment on U.S. public libraries through more than a dozen essays written by leading scholars and administrators. Notwithstanding the far reaching changes wrought by the internet, this is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive exploration of the subject over time and across areas of practice.

This wide ranging volume, edited by the authors of several national studies tracking the use and involvement of public libraries with the Internet since 1994, offers both description and assessment. It discusses the ways in which the roles and services of public libraries have changed as a result of the Internet and offers a perspective on the meaning and impact of these changes. Perhaps most critically, it also suggests possible futures and opportunities as public libraries continue to evolve in this networked environment.

John Carlo Bertot, PhD, is professor in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, director of the Center for Library and Information Innovation (www.liicenter.org), and associate director of the Center for Information Policy and Electronic Government (www.cipeg.umd.edu). Dr. Bertot serves as editor of Library Quarterly and Government Information Quarterly. He is chair of the ISO 11620 Library Performance Indicator. Working Group and is a board member of the Digital Government Society of North America. More Information on Dr. Bertot's research and grants is available at: http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~jbertot.
Paul T. Jaeger, Phd, JD. is assistant professor in the College of Information Studies, director of the Center for Information Policy and Electronic Government (www.cipeg.umd.edu), and associate director of the Center for Library and information Innovation (www.liicenter.org) at the University of Maryland College Park, MD. Dr. Jaeger is associate editor of Library Quarterly, as well as author of six books and more than 80 journal articles and book chapters.
Charles R. McClure, PhD, is Frances Eppes professor and director of the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. Since his founding of the Information Institute in 1999, it has obtained some $5 million in research grants and contracts. Dr. McClure has written or edited numerous books, journal articles, and research reports, some of which are available at his website at http://www.ii.fsu.edu/~cmcclure, in areas such as planning and evaluation of information services and digital libraries, information and telecommunications policy, and public library services. He is also president of Information Management Consultant Services, LLD.