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

摘要

The provision of desktop computers providing public access to the Internet has become mainstream in public libraries in the western world. Yet despite widespread implementation, this aspect of library service has not been subject to extensive research. The subject has been dominated by Bertot, McClure and associates, who started the Public Libraries and the Internet Project 15 years ago and who have provided the bulk of useful research to date. The project's reports, though, are to be found in numerous papers and journal articles, not conducive to access by a general librarian readership. This book is not a collection of previously published papers, but it does provide a single entry point to much of the thinking that underpins the whole research project. It ought to be read by all public library managers.