Professional Reading Shelf
Public Libraries–Internet
Source: Information Use Management and Policy Institute, College of Information, Florida State University
Public Libraries and the Internet 2004: Survey Results and Findings (PDF; 599 KB)
“Overall, the survey results show high levels of public access computing in public libraries but signs of cracks in the quality of service and the ability to sustain programs. The data also highlight disparities among rural and urban systems, in which rural libraries are more likely to have slower connectivity; fewer workstations to meet demand; and fewer training opportunities compared to urban libraries. At the same time, patrons in high poverty areas have access to the highest levels of connectivity, bandwidth, and wireless access, as high poverty outlets tend to be part of urban library systems. By contract, high poverty libraries also indicate that they consistently cannot meet the demand for public access workstations.”
See: Almost All Libraries in U.S. Offer Free Access to Internet (The New York Times)
See: Public libraries trying to untangle Web (St. Petersburg Times)
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David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Source: O’Reilly Network
Historical Maps Online
“David Rumsey writes about his collection of more than 150,000 historical maps of the Americas and the world, many of which he has made available free to the public in an online map library.”
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Reading
Source: Canadian Heritage Industry Development Publishing Policy and Programs
Canada: Reading And Buying Books For Pleasure: 2005 National Survey
Note: Section 1.11 discusses libraries; 1.12 reports on searching for books online.
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Freedom of Information–United Kingdom
Good start for FoI
“Assistant information commissioner Gerrard Tracey was speaking at a seminar at GCexpo2005 on 21 June 2005. He summed up the early signs of the act’s effect since it came into force on 1 January 2005. ‘The early indicators are that we are seeing a culture of change,’ he said. ‘The FoI is about changing the culture to one of open government, and I think we can see it beginning to happen.’”
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Metadata
Government Printing Office
Source: GPO
GPO Releases Report on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications (Final Version)

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