ALIA submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Role of Libraries in the Online Environment

(a.) The current community patterns of demand for public information services through libraries, including the provision of such information online.

Library use

At the end of June 2000 there were 505 local government library services with 1510 library locations, eight national and state library organisations with 26 locations. The total stock of these organisations was 54.3 million books and other library materials.

Sixty percent of the population use public libraries. Fifty-two percent of the population are library members. In the year to June 2000, 10.7 million people had registered as borrowers of local government libraries.

During 1999-2000 there were 99.4 million visits to local government, national and state libraries. Visits to local government, national and state libraries have increased by 11 percent since 1996/7. Of all library users more than sixty percent visit a library on six or more occasions in any one year. Four times as many people attend a library in any given year as attend a cricket match.

Library resources

Public libraries focus their services on meeting their users needs. Increasingly physical, financial and staffing resources are being applied to deliver electronic information to people. Most libraries provide e-mail and internet access, online resources such as CD-ROMs, e-books, online databases and language learning laboratory resources.

Good current statistical information is not available on internet connectivity and use in public libraries. In June 2000 there were 2832 internet work stations in local government libraries, a 242 per cent increase on the 827 internet work stations at the end of June 1997. Numbers of internet workstations and online services have continued to grow. For example, in New South Wales the number of internet workstations in public libraries increased by 33 per cent from June 2000 to June 2001. Libraries have benefited from federal government initiatives such as Networking the Nation and state government programs. These programs by no means meet demand on their own. Over the last five years or so there has been a significant change in the way budgets, staffing and space are allocated to introduce and deliver electronic information services.

Libraries and equitable access

As more services are offered electronically, the need for individuals - many of whom cannot afford the technology or lack the skills to use it - to have a safe place in which to use the internet also increases. The provision of these services, including training, through the public library sector is a public good.