ALA Offers "State of America's Libraries" Report
-- Library Journal, 04/06/2006
The American Library Association (ALA) has released its first annual report on "The State of America's Libraries," a 13-page survey "not meant to be exhaustive but simply to show the many ways in which America's libraries and librarians are not only adapting in the Age of Google but continuing to play a vital role as information providers, information advisers and community centers." The report, which is aimed at the mainstream media and gained notice in yesterday's New York Times, cites a survey that shows that library users have increased borrowing of books, consulting a librarian, attending programs, and borrowing AV materials. The report downplays somewhat the results of the survey, which showed that nearly one-third of those adults surveyed (32 percent) hadn't visited the library in the past year; the report states that "most [Americans] continued to visit the library in person at least once a year."
Other topics in the report include the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on libraries in the Gulf Coast region and the library profession's response; the growing effort to provide wireless Internet access; the mixed record on funding; the continued construction of libraries (the report cites LJ's December 2005 architecture issue); the growth of LIS education; the USA PATRIOT Act; and copyright issues. The penultimate paragraph asks how Google's ambitious digitization project will affect libraries. "Far from being obsolete in a Google world," wrote Irving E. Rockwood, editor and publisher of the Association of College & Research Libraries' Choice magazine, "libraries [will] continue to play a vital social role as community centers, information providers and information advisers."
