Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit previous design principles and guidelines for online makerspaces in public libraries (Kim et al., 2020) and expand the design principles with more updated implications and examples from the literature published during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors reviewed…

Many Americans lack the skills required to use public access computers and the Internet at public libraries (PLs). Staff members of a PL in the Midwestern United States provide basic computer training to support patrons' Internet and public access computer use. However, adult patrons who are beyond the basic skills level and those with…

In the fall and winter of 2020, New America embarked on a snapshot study to gather data on how--or if--people were discovering, accessing, and using their public libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on materials that libraries made available online. Our findings, which include data from a national survey of 2,620 people, highlight…

Introduction: This paper describes the findings of a study of 1517 public library Websites in Australia, Canada, and the United States over a period of four years. These Websites are referred to as 'electronic branches' of the libraries, thereby extending the definition of physical library branches into the digital realm. The purpose of the…

Libraries are learning hubs that connect families to free resources, activities, and services to cultivate children's learning about topics that excite them. Despite recent technological developments which have revolutionized how we read and access information, libraries continue to evolve in order to serve their communities, especially families…

With the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, the author has begun to build an open-access digital repository for poetry chapbooks. The repository is essentially a chapbook exchange: a place for poets to share their current works. Users are invited to share their chapbooks via upload and as such gain access to the chapbook repository.…

This month, the "Journal of Web Librarianship" is exploring the idea of data curation and its uses in libraries. The word "data" is as universal now as the word "cloud" was last year, and it is no accident that libraries are exploring how best to support data curation services. Data curation involves library activities in just about every way,…

There is a growing shift to digital offerings among public libraries. Libraries increasingly are fulfilling roles as technology hubs for their communities, with high demand for technology and career development training resources. Ebooks and other digital materials are on the rise, while print is being scaled back. More libraries are turning to…

A significant number of distance students report they "stray" from their home universities by using local libraries, despite the fact that distance education librarians work hard to provide customized resources and services tailored to their programs and needs. Are public libraries and special libraries able to meet the research needs of…

In 2008, researchers at the Library Research Service (LRS) undertook the "U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies" study, with the intent to document the use of various Internet technologies on the websites of public libraries throughout the nation (Lietzau, 2009). The results of that study set a baseline for the adoption…

With their explosive sales and widespread availability over the past few years, e-books have definitively proven that they're here to stay. In this sequel to her best-selling book of the same title, expert Polanka dives even deeper into the world of digital distribution. Contributors from across the e-book world offer their perspectives on what's…

We asked the same 60 questions using DRS (digital reference services) in Japanese public libraries, face-to-face reference services and Q & A (question and answer) sites. It was found that: (1) The correct answer ratio of DRS is higher than that of Q & A sites; (2) DRS takes longer to provide answers as compared to Q & A sites; and (3)…

Europeana: Think Culture (http://www.europeana.eu) is a wonderful cultural repository. It includes more than 15 million items (images, text, audio, and video) from 1,500 European institutions. Europeana provides access to an abundance of cultural and heritage information and knowledge. Because Europeana has partnered with and brought together so…

More than eight in ten Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 read a book in the past year, and six in ten used their local public library. At the youngest end of the spectrum, high schoolers in their late teens (ages 16-17) and college-aged young adults (ages 18-24) are especially likely to have read a book or used the library in the past 12…

As library collections increasingly become digital, libraries are faced with many challenges regarding the acquisition and management of electronic resources. Some of these challenges include copyright and fair use, the first-sale doctrine, licensing versus ownership, digital preservation, long-term archiving, and, most important, the issue of…