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users."
6. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use."
The Internet provides the equivalent of electronic meeting rooms and virtual exhibit spaces. Public libraries will offer access to all comers, regardless of their status.
Further, as part of the Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights, this statement appears: "The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that `the right to receive ideas follows ineluctably from the sender's First Amendment right to send them. . . . More importantly, the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient's meaningful exercise of his own rights such as speech, press, and political freedom' Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 866-67 (1982) (plurality opinion)."
Clearly, reception and sending of ideas is a First Amendment issue. Oral, written, and electronic speech must be equally protected so that democracy may flourish.
Public libraries also provide "free" services, though in fact the costs are just deferred. Taxes, state aid derived from taxes, federal aid derived from taxes, and private funds all pay for the "free" services at public libraries. Public libraries may be thought of as Information Management Organizations (IMO's), similar to Health Management Organizations, where patrons/patients contribute before they need information/health care, so that when they do need it, librarians/doctors are available to render aid.
Why NREN in the Public Library is a bad idea
On the surface, the public library looks like an excellent place to drop Internet/NREN connectivity. Libraries are veritable temples of learning, intellectual freedom, and confidentiality.
However, most public libraries lack what computer experts call infrastructure. If there are computers, they may be out of date. Staff may not have had time to learn to operate them, and the computers may literally be collecting dust.
There may be no modems, no phone line to share, no staff with time to learn about the Internet and its many resources. Money to update equipment, hire staff, and buy training is out of the question. Public libraries face slashed budgets, staff layoffs, reduced hours, and cutbacks in services.
Many of these drawbacks are noted in the recent study by Dr. Charles R. McClure, called Public Libraries and the Internet/NREN: New Challenges, New Opportunities.
Public librarians were surveyed about their attitudes toward NREN in interviews and focus groups. According to the study, public librarians thought that the public had a "right" to the Internet, and its availability in their libraries would provide a safety net for the electronic-poor.
On the other hand they felt that they could not commit resources to this initiative until they knew better what the costs were and the benefits might be. They longed for someone else to create a pilot project to demonstrate the Internet's usefulness, or lack thereof, for public library users.
The study describes several scenarios for public libraries as the NREN evolves. Some may simply choose to ignore the sweeping technological changes in information transfer. They may continue to exist by purveying high-demand items and traditional services, but they may find it increasingly difficult to maintain funding levels as the rest of the world looks elsewhere for their information and reference needs. The public library may find itself servicing only the information disenfranchised, while the rest of the community finds, and pays for, other solutions.
As the study explains:
"While embracing and exploiting networked information and services, [successfully transitioned libraries] also maintain high visibility and high demand traditional services. But resources will be reallocated from collections and less-visible services to support their involvement in the network. All services will be more client-centered and demand-based, and the library will consciously seek opportunities to deliver new types of information resources and services electronically."
"In this scenario, the public library will develop and mount services over the NREN, provide for public access to the NREN, and will compete successfully against other information providers. In its networked role, the library can serve as a central point of contact as an electronic navigator and intermediary in linking individuals to electronic information resources- regardless of type or physical location. The public library in this second scenario will define a future for itself in the NREN and develop a strategic plan to insure its successful participation as an information provider in the networked environment."
What Should Happen
Senator Gore has proposed what has been variously called Son of NREN or Gore II, which should help address many of these infrastructure problems.
Unfortunately, the Bill was not passed and the closing of the last Congress. There is hope, however, that it will be reintroduced this Spring.
Specifically, Gore's bill would have ensured that the technology developed by the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 is applied widely in K-12 education, libraries, health care and industry, particularly