Is a Computer Worth a Thousand Books? Internet Access and the Changing Role of Public Libraries

The ongoing debate on the “digital divide” is centered on improving Internet home‐access penetration rates through two instruments, price subsidies and capital subsidies. Subsidizing home access can be expensive and difficult because of the inherent difficulty of identifying target households. Incre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Review of policy research 2006-01, Vol.23 (1), p.249-266
Main Author: Flamm, Anindya Chaudhuri and Kenneth S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Forecasts and trends
Growth
Internet
Internet access
Libraries
Public access
Public libraries
Services
Subsidies
United States
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Summary:The ongoing debate on the “digital divide” is centered on improving Internet home‐access penetration rates through two instruments, price subsidies and capital subsidies. Subsidizing home access can be expensive and difficult because of the inherent difficulty of identifying target households. Increasing the availability of public access terminals instead can be an effective way for achieving universal access. The analysis of this article considers public libraries because of their national reach and existing Internet service offerings to users. It finds strong evidence of a need‐based use of access facilities at these libraries, and also identifies a clear increasing trend in visits over time by patrons for getting online. Upgrading and maintaining these facilities would be a better use of funds than indiscriminately providing subsidies to households.
ISSN:1541-132X
1541-1338
1541-1338
DOI:10.1111/j.1541-1338.2006.00196.x