Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study

The 2010-2011 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Survey will be launched on September 7, 2010. Directors from selected libraries will receive postcards with logon information and your library’s survey ID number about a week before the release date. Libraries that received awards in the Opportunity Online Hardware Grant Program from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are again required to participate in the survey. This study has been conducted since 2006, but last year’s survey (2009-2010) was the first one with enough participation from Nebraska public libraries to enable a state summary to be generated. We would certainly like to see that level of involvement again! You can view the 2009-2010 report and get more information about the project at http://www.ala.org/plinternetfunding. This annual study provides a valuable assessment of the importance of technology access in the nation’s public libraries and the communities they serve. Data from the survey has been cited in many national publications, has been used in sucessful grant applications for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, and has been included in national and state-level testimony concerning library service. The American Library Association (ALA) and the Center for Library & Information Innovation in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are conducting the study. This survey is web-based, but if you want to see the questions before logging on, a pdf version is available on the Library Commission web site at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/statistics/2010PLFTASSurvey.pdf.