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Public libraries trying to untangle Web

Almost every Florida library has Internet access; keeping up with demand is challenging.

By MATTHEW WAITE
Published June 24, 2005

[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]

Al Johnson, 19, left, of Gulfport, listens to music and e-mails friends on a computer at the St. Petersburg Public Library main branch on 9th Avenue N.

	[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
	Josh Bush, left, and Paul Johnson, right, both of Tampa, work at computer stations where Internet access is offered at the John F. Germany Library. Both Bush and Johnson do not own computers, so using the library is their best option for Internet access. Johnson said he is homeless but still has e-mail accounts. Hillsborough libraries have more than 600 computers, enough to stay ahead of the goal of one computer for every 2,000 residents.
	[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
	In spite of having computers with Internet access in their homes, Sarah Parish, 11, left, and Sara Bair, 11, right, both of Tampa, use one of the computers at John F. Germany Library in downtown Tampa to do research on the Internet for an acting class they are taking this summer. Onto the Web How do you access the Internet? Library Dial-up from home Broadband from home Work

Walk into a local library and this much is almost guaranteed: You'll have Internet access but you'll probably have to wait for it.

Virtually every library in Florida now has Internet access, but it's proven so popular that more than half the libraries are struggling to keep up with demand, according to a national survey released Thursday.

Adrian Garner, 20, learned the hard way the first time he went to the Pinellas Park Public Library to use a computer. He waited over an hour to get to a terminal.

Thursday morning, he called ahead and scheduled an appointment. He had important work to do.

"Signing up for school," the St. Petersburg College sophomore said as he sat at a terminal. "And trying to get some information on a baseball game."

The report, done by Florida State University and sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, marks a milestone in a quiet evolution in the nation's libraries.

A decade ago, 21 percent of the nation's public libraries were hooked up to the Internet. Today it's 99.6 percent.

What does that mean? Gone are the old card catalogs, telephone calls to other libraries to find books or inconvenient restrictions to magazines to which the library subscribes.

The Internet allows patrons access to every library, even in other states. Reserve books online and get an e-mail message when they're ready. Need an article from a magazine the library doesn't get? No problem. Electronic databases have just about every article from just about every magazine.

You can download some books - digital text or audio, your choice - and take it with you.

"These may be the great days for public libraries," said Charlie Parker, executive director of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.

But there's one catch: A third of all Florida libraries reported their computers are always in use. And only 10 percent statewide had enough.

"Our computers are in constant use," said Patrice Koerper, a spokeswoman for the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System. "It's just one of our big items for the public. It's one of the best services we can offer them."

Hillsborough has more than 600 library computers, enough to stay ahead of its goal of one computer for every 2,000 residents. Next year, library officials expect to have more than 700 computers, Koerper said.

Some libraries, the study found, are running out of space. So some are adding free wireless access, allowing people with laptops access to the Internet without the library adding its own computers. In Florida, researchers found, half of all libraries plan to add wireless Internet access in the next year.

Demand for computers at the Pinellas Park library Thursday morning was typical for libraries in the Tampa Bay area. Although it wasn't a busy morning, librarians said, no computer was unused for more than a few minutes.

Last month, more than 2,200 people logged onto one of its computers, which can be reserved in 90-minute blocks.

What are people doing with these computers? Checking e-mail. Chatting online. Playing games.

In one row of machines, Pinellas Park patrons were sending e-greeting cards, playing online pool and reading about baseball.

"It's not to say people aren't doing research," said reference librarian Marjie Sturges. That morning, while reading about Web server administration, Sturges helped a man with a digital genealogical research question.

"The way we do reference has changed tremendously," Sturges said. "People's expectations have changed tremendously."

Because computers and the Internet have become a major part of libraries - and society - libraries have become centers for computer training. Tampa Bay area library officials said their classes, all free, going on all the time, are filled.

John Carlo Bertot, one of the Florida State researchers who co-wrote the national study, said the research found three major users of library computer training: Senior citizens, people without Internet access at home and people looking for jobs and job training.

"It's clear that public libraries play a huge role" in closing a gap between the Net savvy and the computer illiterate, Bertot said. "They serve a population that's very much in need of public Internet access."

To do this, libraries are competing for more technology dollars; 87 percent of Florida libraries reported an increase in their computer budgets from a year before. And librarians are doing tech support along with research help.

"The innovative spirit is there, but one of the stories that our study tells is that there still is a need for assistance to make this available to patrons," Bertot said. "There are waits. It is a problem."

But that's not necessarily a bad problem to have, librarians said.

"No one has ever figured out how much public library services a community can consume," Parker said. "The day after they open the doors, the shelves are empty.

"It's a wonderful problem."

[Last modified June 24, 2005, 01:05:30]