Survey Says: Renovation = Innovation

The Information Policy and Access Center at University of Maryland and the American Library Association having been working together on a survey that has collected data about public libraries and the internet for 20 years. (Koerber) The Digital Inclusion Survey “looked more closely at the relationship between recent renovations or construction (within the past five years) and the ability of libraries to support a full and robust online life for all of a community’s residents — regardless of age, education, and socioeconomic status.” (Koerber)

It was not surprising to learn that building upgrades and renovations positively affected the library’s services and programming. “ In addition to being able to upgrade or accommodate more public computers, infrastructure improvements that come with renovations offer library users more outlets for mobile devices and laptops, stronger Wi-Fi to handle higher bandwidth usage (including streaming media), and space that shifts from materials storage to flexible use.” (Koerber) An additional study noted that more patrons are using the library to “hang out” in while using their mobile phones or tablets. And while not all libraries need Maker space, that type of infrastructure improvement would benefit all types of programming, services, and current uses of the library.

Another interesting find in the survey data was how much help and education library staff offer patrons. “For example, library staff used to just hand folks IRS forms and they’d take them home to fill out. As the IRS has shifted to online tax filing, library staff now help users navigate the IRS site, download the forms or fill them out online, answer the questions that invariably come up during the process, and help them print and/or email their returns for their records. What started as a simple directional transaction has become a much more complex informational transaction.” (Koerber)

All of this information is not new to librarians working in the field, but definitely something to think about while designing library space and planning programming and services.

Source:

“Digital Inclusion Survey: Renovation Matters, Help Happens at Point of Need, and Staff Still Do (Almost) Everything.” Library Journal. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/12/industry-news/digital-inclusion-survey-renovation-matters-help-happens-at-point-of-need-and-staff-still-do-almost-everything/#_>.