John Carlo Bertot Information Policy & Access Center College of Information Studies

1. Public Library Funding and Technology Access Survey: Using, Visualizing, and Contextualizing the Data John Carlo Bertot Information Policy & Access Center College of Information Studies University of Maryland jbertot@umd.edu www.plinternetsurvey.org (survey materials) ipac.umd.edu (research center)

2. Discussion • PLFTAS background • Service context • Changes in library services and resources • Changes in information • Changes in technologies • Social issues and needs • PLFTAS products • Next steps/scenarios

3. Why the Survey? • Longitudinal data collection since 1994 • Provides snapshot of what libraries offer their communities: • Library public access technology infrastructure • Capacity • Internet-enabled services • Challenges and issues • Funding

4. Why the Survey? • Informs policymakers about what libraries do in their communities in key areas of • Access to the Internet • Access to increasingly digital-only content and services • Employment • E-government • Databases • More • Digital literacy • Digital inclusion • Resides in the larger evolving information and technology context

5. Changes in Services and Use

6. Print Collections

7. Non-Print Collections

8. Reference

9. Changing Depository Landscape • As GPO celebrates 150 years as a printer • 97% of government information is born digital • Depository program in transition • Do we need 1200+ physical collections?

10. To Summarize • We are moving (and have been) away from a service based on physical collections designed to pull people to our buildings • Just in time, as opposed to just in case • Self-serve

11. Changes in Information

12. Changes in Information • Quantity and Availability • An LoC of indexing everyday • 24 hours of video loaded on YouTube every minute • Average of 144 million tweets per day • 50 million tweets per day one year ago • Speed of information • Within minutes of your tweet, it’s indexed and searchable in Google • What used to require effort is at your fingertips • Not reinventing the search - chances are it’s been sought before and captured • Connection is instantaneous

13. Speed Google Public Data Explorer http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore

14. Changes in Information • Interacting in New Ways • Google 3D • http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ • http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ddc839e17656ed9759bdbb2775b3c747&prevstart=0

15. Changes in Information • Information is Social • More is out there • More is connected • Through social media • More is shared • Crowdsourcing enables more uses, sharing, problem solving through concentrated bursts of information sharing

16. Plane Spotting & CIA Rendition

17. Summary • More information, more directly to users • Our ability to access, use, and interact with information is changing • Information is increasingly enhanced and linked in a range of ways • The social nature of information enables stronger ties between people, communities, information sources, information providers

18. Changes in Technology

19. Smartphones Devices • 35% own a smartphone overall

20. Tablet & E-reader Ownership

21. Tablets and E-readers

22. Social Media http://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-growth-of-social-media-an-infographic/32788/

23. Siri – Ready Reference at Your Fingertips

24. Summary • New technologies • Allow for different experience with information • New understandings of information • Place information at user access instantly • Offer “ready reference” • Changes in library useand requested services • Less about circulation and reference • More about facilitation and intermediation • Education • Health • E-government • Employment

25. Why this Survey? • In a world of sound bites like • “ebooks are the future of libraries” • “it’s all on the Internet” • “access is cheap, or free, and everywhere” • In an evolving technology, information, and services landscape, we need data about • How libraries transform their communities • Libraries in relation to their communities • The role of public access technology-based services

26. Showing Libraries in their Communitieshttp://plinternetsurvey.org/dataviz/

27. Participation

28. Broadband – Population Density

29. Broadband – FCC Underserved

30. Employment • 90.9% provide job databases and resources • 77.0% provide civil service examination materials • 74.5% offer software and resources for resume creation • 71.9% help people complete online applications

31. Employment by Unemployment

32. My Library/Library Lookup

33. Library Lookup – Mobile

34. Indicators • Composition of various elements (e.g., e-government): • Library staff provided assistance to patrons applying for or accessing e-government services • Library staff provided assistance to patrons for completing government forms • The library offered training classes regarding the use of government Web sites, understanding government programs, and completing electronic forms • The library partnered with government agencies, non-profit organizations, and others to provide e-government services • The library had at least one staff member with expertise and skills in the provision of e-government services

35. Narratives • www.plinternetsurvey.org • Topical • http://plinternetsurvey.org/analysis/public-libraries-and-digital-literacy • State • http://plinternetsurvey.org/advocacy/state-details?id=TX

36. Key Issues and Challenges • Moving the data closer to the community • Connecting to other datasets • Library in the context of the community • Data plus off-the-shelf products • Visualizations • Issue briefs • One-page summaries

37. What Does the Future Hold? Continuum of products from ready-to-use to wonkish • More traditional • Reports (June 2012) • Issue briefs (January/February 2012) • PLFTAS one-page summaries (January/February 2012) • One-page advocacy Leg Day (April 2012) • New • Visualizations (now and January/February 2012) • Static • Pan and zoom • Lookup • January/February 2012 • APIs • GIS • http://bit.ly/vDnmcH

38. What Does the Future Hold? • Sunrise? • NLG Grant • Modified survey • Sunset? • As much utility as possible • Historical datasets

39. Thank You John Carlo Bertot Information Policy & Access Center University of Maryland jbertot@umd.edu ipac.umd.edu www.plinternsurvey.org Twitter: @iPAC_UMD; #PLFTAS @jcbertot