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In addition to their other roles, public libraries play a vital part in providing Internet access to members of their communities, offering a gateway for those doing homework, applying for jobs, and accessing public services.1

Endnotes

  • 1For more on role of internet services in and for public libraries, consult the literature cited in Bo Kinney, “The Internet, Public Libraries, and the Digital Divide,” Public Library Quarterly 29, no. 2 (June 2010): 104–61; available online at (last consulted December 19, 2019).
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* Based on the total unduplicated population of libraries' legal service areas. Values presented are for the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and calculations were performed on all libraries treated by these jurisdictions as public libraries, not only those meeting all Federal-State Cooperative System criteria for public libraries (see “About the Data” for details).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Public Libraries Survey (2000–2005); and Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey (2006–2018). Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts and Sciences’  Indicators ().

The “per 5,000 people” values included in this graph are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas, as reported by the libraries themselves. A library’s legal service area is the geographical area that by state or local statute a library is mandated to serve. “Unduplicated” refers to the fact that the population figures have been adjusted to compensate for overlapping service areas. To simply sum the populations of all service areas would be to double count those people residing in areas served by more than one library.

Under the Federal-State Cooperative System, a public library is an entity established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, is supported in whole or in part with public funds, and provides at least the following:

1. An organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;

2. Paid staff;

3. An established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; and

4. The facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule.

A library, in this instance, refers to the administrative entity, which could be a single-outlet library or a multibranch library system. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent year for which information was available at the time of publication, 9,045 libraries operating in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia met the criteria above. These entities provided services via 16,557 central and branch libraries, and 672 bookmobiles (M. Pelczar, L. M. Frehill, K. Williams, and E. Nielsen, Supplementary Tables: Public Libraries in the United States Fiscal Year 2017 [Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019], 1–2, ).

V-17b: Public-Use Internet Computers in Public Libraries per 5,000 People, by State, Fiscal Year 2018*

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* Based on the total unduplicated population of libraries' legal service areas. Calculations were performed on all libraries treated by these jurisdictions as public libraries, not only those meeting all Federal-State Cooperative System criteria for public libraries (see “About the Data” for details).

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey (2018). Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts and Sciences’  Indicators ().

The “per 5,000 people” values included in this graph are based on the total unduplicated population of libraries’ legal service areas, as reported by the libraries themselves. A library’s legal service area is the geographical area that by state or local statute a library is mandated to serve. “Unduplicated” refers to the fact that the population figures have been adjusted to compensate for overlapping service areas. To simply sum the populations of all service areas would be to double count those people residing in areas served by more than one library.

Under the Federal-State Cooperative System, a public library is an entity established under state enabling laws or regulations to serve a community, district, or region, is supported in whole or in part with public funds, and provides at least the following:

1. An organized collection of printed or other library materials, or a combination thereof;

2. Paid staff;

3. An established schedule in which services of the staff are available to the public; and

4. The facilities necessary to support such a collection, staff, and schedule.

A library, in this instance, refers to the administrative entity, which could be a single-outlet library or a multibranch library system. In fiscal year 2017, the most recent year for which information was available at the time of publication, 9,045 libraries operating in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia met the criteria above. These entities provided services via 16,557 central and branch libraries, and 672 bookmobiles (M. Pelczar, L. M. Frehill, K. Williams, and E. Nielsen, Supplementary Tables: Public Libraries in the United States Fiscal Year 2017 [Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2019], 1–2, ).

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