After years of generally stagnant budgets for libraries, the numbers public libraries are reporting from 2014 reveal the continuation of an exciting upward trend. A total of 416 libraries across the country responded to Library Journal’s Budget Survey, and nearly three-fourths (73%) saw an overall increase in their operating budget. That’s a 13% increase from […]
Public, free Wi-Fi access has exploded in recent years – essentially all public libraries now offer it – but only now are we beginning to get a fuller picture of how essential these services are to many communities. ALA’s District Dispatch recently reported on a survey conducted by WifiForward about Americans’ usage of and attitudes […]
In a follow up to data collected in 2012, EasyBib completed a survey this year of 1,182 school and academic librarians, and 10,471 students, in order to determine how libraries are evaluating and responding to the need for information literacy instruction in schools and in higher education. The report shows there is a wide gap […]
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) just released its Public Libraries in the United States Report for Fiscal Year 2012, which is based on a survey of 97% of public libraries across the United States and parses out national and state-by-state trends. We contribute data to this survey about Colorado’s public libraries through […]
In today’s diverse information culture, libraries play an important role in promoting the many ways that communities stay informed about the world around them. As digital technologies and media become more and more ingrained in everyday life, Americans are increasingly recognizing their value as an educational and creative outlet. Results out from a new Pew […]
There are often debates in the library world about whether or not the younger generation is reading enough, and how much television, computers, and e-devices actually compete for their attention. Scholastic’s Fall 2014 study examines this question, among others, by actually asking kids themselves about reading habits and preferences. The results, culled from a nationally […]
Last month, we reported on Library Journal’s and School Library Journal’s survey of public and school libraries, which indicated that e-book acquisition continues to rise steadily in both settings. However, demand for e-books was found to be lackluster in public libraries and downright disappointing in school libraries. Nielsen recently conducted a study that sheds some […]
Librarians have long been advocates for the privacy rights of ordinary citizens, whether they are protecting citizens from the government, corporations, or even libraries themselves. While it is not news that Americans are increasingly concerned about the status of their personal information, the extent to which they are concerned about their privacy across various media […]
As part of our look at e-book usage in U.S. libraries for 2014, we see in School Library Journal’s latest survey of school libraries that e-books are not faring quite as well in this environment as they are in public libraries. In fact, in the survey of 835 U.S. school libraries, one of the most […]
In their fifth annual study of e-book usage in U.S. public libraries, Library Journal found that while e-book demand is still on the rise, there has been a significant waning in its intensity, based on the responses from the 538 libraries that participated in their survey. LJ suggests that a strong possibility for this apparent […]
