Publication Type
Journal Article
Book Title/Conference/Journal
Government Information Quarterly
Year
1-2013
Abstract
Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access computers are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people understand the need for internet access. Using a series of surveys conducted in 12 libraries across the state of Michigan, the current study is a step towards understanding why the computing facilities are widely used, and what are the motivations behind their use. In addition, barriers and other factors that hinder usage are also discussed. The findings from this study will help policy makers and library administrators evaluate the current allocation of scarce resources, help them promote greater use of the library's resources, and guide their future course of action. The study is conducted as part of a federally funded public computing center grant.
Keywords
Barriers, BTOP, Libraries, Motivation of users, Public computing
Disciplines
Communication Technology and New Media | Library and Information Science
Subject(s)
Applied or Integration/Application Scholarship
ISSN/ISBN
0740-624X
Publisher
Elsevier
DOI
10.1016/j.giq.2012.07.009
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2012.07.009
Version
acceptedVersion
Language
eng
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Format
application/PDF
Citation
DeMaagd, Kurt; CHEW, Han Ei; Huang, Guanxiong; Khan, M. Laeeq; Sreenivasan, Akshaya; and LaRose, Robert.
The use of public computing facilities by library patrons: Demography, motivations, and barriers. (2013). Government Information Quarterly. 30, (1), 110.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/oi_research/13