Without a Net

Without a Net PDF Author: Jessamyn C. West
Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
ISBN: 9781598844535
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Teaching novice computer users, including seniors and individuals with disabilities such as low vision or motor skills, how to do what they want and need to do online is a formidable challenge for library staff. Part inspirational, part practical Without a/the Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide is a summary of techniques, approaches, and skills that will help librarians meet this challenge.||Jessamyn C. West's experience as a librarian is deeply immersed in technology culture, yet living in rural America makes her uniquely qualified to write this book. Taking a big-picture approach to the subject, she demystifies and simplifies tech training for the busy librarian, providing an easy-to-use handbook full of techniques that can be used with all of a library's many populations. As an added bonus, she also examines the players in the library technology arena to offer firsthand reports on what works, what doesn't, and what's next.

Online Community Information

Online Community Information PDF Author: Joan Coachman Durrance
Publisher: American Library Association
ISBN: 9780838908235
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
"Presents the highlights of a 1998-2000 IMLS National Leadership Grant, 'Help-seeking in an electronic world: the role of the public library in helping citizens obtain community information over the Internet'" -- p. ii.

Small Libraries, Big Impact

Small Libraries, Big Impact PDF Author: Yunfei Du
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description
This valuable book shows how to get your community behind your library by making it an essential part of community life and demonstrating its benefit to all members of the community. Evolving technologies and the changing social landscape have put pressure on public libraries to shift their service values and methods in order to maintain funding opportunities. The challenge is substantial: library managers today must adopt a new mindset in order to perform a broad spectrum of activities and attract new users who are not traditional library patrons. Small Libraries, Big Impact: How to Better Serve Your Community in the Digital Age helps readers to meet the challenge of serving diverse users via a community-centered library. Based on an intensive review of literature on serving library users in smaller libraries as well as the author's own research findings gained from interviewing 55 library directors, this book provides conceptual and practical tools for serving 21st-century users, gaining wider community support, programming dynamic events, and planning rewarding technology learning. Beyond supplying actionable advice, the book will also review relevant concepts and theoretical frameworks, such as community outreach and partnership, social justice and social inclusion, technology and social transition, cultural diversity and the digital divide, entrepreneurship, outreach, best practices for marketing libraries, and library space design.

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide PDF Author: Lennard G. Kruger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Broadband communication systems
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
This report provides an overview of the "digital divide", which is a term used to describe a perceived gap between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications and information technologies and those who do not.

Tech for All

Tech for All PDF Author: Lauren Comito
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538122197
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
How can libraries ensure that patrons from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds have access to advanced technology training and hardware? Everyone knows libraries provide access to computers and the internet for day to day use, but many libraries have gone beyond those basic services. Makerspaces and advanced tech training are often not equitably distributed between differing communities. The digital divide is still very real, and by not providing equal access to maker spaces and other similar services libraries may be unintentionally contributing to that divide. This book examines how the unequal distribution of resources between communities can limit access to emerging technologies. Chapters from librarians across the country give real world examples of libraries going the extra mile to bring more than just email access to their communities, regardless of economic status or geographic distribution. You’ll find practical plans put forward by working professionals who have sought pragmatic solutions to issues of digital literacy. Access is a through line in this work as people look at the larger ideas of access as inclusive of training, diverse technologies, and the time and space to make genuine growth in tech literacy. Chapters include: working with immigrants, low cost laptops for library use, deep dives into the underpinnings of the maker movement, and developing community-focused technology training. After reading this book, librarians should have practical ideas to address the issue of equity in access to emerging technologies in their own communities.

Public Libraries and the Internet

Public Libraries and the Internet PDF Author: John Carlo Bertot Ph.D.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1591587778
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
This book is a timely and detailed exploration of the impact and issues of the Internet in public libraries and their implications for society, policy, and professional practice. Public Libraries and the Internet: Roles, Perspectives, and Implications explores the impact of the Internet and the expansion of the networked environment on U.S. public libraries through more than a dozen essays written by leading scholars and administrators. Notwithstanding the far-reaching changes wrought by the Internet, this is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive exploration of the subject over time and across areas of practice. This wide-ranging volume, edited by the authors of several national studies tracking the use and involvement of public libraries with the Internet since 1994, offers both description and assessment. It discusses the ways in which the roles and services of public libraries have changed as a result of the Internet and offers a perspective on the meaning and impact of these changes. Perhaps most critically, it also suggests possible futures and opportunities as public libraries continue to evolve in this networked environment.

Bridging the Digital Divide with Mobile Services

Bridging the Digital Divide with Mobile Services PDF Author: Andromeda Yelton
Publisher: American Library Association
ISBN: 0838992374
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 37

Book Description
In this issue of Library Technology Reports, Andromeda Yelton shows how libraries can build on the breadth of this population to help bridge the digital divide and provide even greater access to information. Yelton breaks down the demographics of mobile internet users, provides examples of how different libraries are reaching out to these...

Strawberry Girl

Strawberry Girl PDF Author: Lois Lenski
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453227539
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Book Description
The Newbery Medal–winning childhood classic of life on a Florida farm—part of the Regional series from the author of the Mr. Small picture books. Birdie and her family are trying to build a farm in Florida. But it’s not easy with the heat, droughts, and cold snaps—and neighbors that don’t believe in fences. But Birdie won’t give up on her dream of strawberries, and her family won’t let those Slaters drive them from their home! This Newberry Medal–winning novel presents a realistic picture of life on the Florida frontier. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

Virtual Inequality

Virtual Inequality PDF Author: Karen Mossberger
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014817
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
That there is a "digital divide"—which falls between those who have and can afford the latest in technological tools and those who have neither in our society—is indisputable. Virtual Inequality redefines the issue as it explores the cascades of that divide, which involve access, skill, political participation, as well as the obvious economics. Computer and Internet access are insufficient without the skill to use the technology, and economic opportunity and political participation provide primary justification for realizing that this inequality is a public problem and not simply a matter of private misfortune. Defying those who say the divide is growing smaller, this volume, based on a unique national survey that includes data from over 1800 respondents in low-income communities, shows otherwise. In addition to demonstrating why disparities persist in such areas as technological abilities, the survey also shows that the digitally disadvantaged often share many of the same beliefs as their more privileged counterparts. African-Americans, for instance, are even more positive in their attitudes toward technology than whites are in many respects, contrary to conventional wisdom. The rigorous research on which the conclusions are based is presented accessibly and in an easy-to-follow manner. Not content with analysis alone, nor the untangling of the complexities of policymaking, Virtual Inequality views the digital divide compassionately in its human dimensions and recommends a set of practical and common-sense policy strategies. Inequality, even in a virtual form this book reminds us, is unacceptable and a situation that society is compelled to address.

Falling Through the Net

Falling Through the Net PDF Author:
Publisher: National Telecommunications & Information Administration
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Provides data on the level of access by Americans to telephones, computers, and the Internet.