Access to the Internet for Government

Stan at Library Blog Buzz points out that:
71.4 % Of Public Libraries Are The Only Provider Of Free Internet In Their Communities
Quoting the ALA “study ” “U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services” (part of the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study) revealed that public libraries are the only organizations in the community that can help citizens to access e-government services.”
“In addition the e-government study found out that
* Public libraries offer an average of 11 public access computers per building
* Nearly all public libraries (98.7 percent) offer public access to the Internet
* Many public libraries (76.4 percent) offer wireless (Wi-fi ) access
* Public libraries off er a number of training classes and/or as-needed assistance on a range of topics, particularly Internet use (92.8 percent), general computer skills (91.3 percent), online Web searching (76.9 percent), and software use (70.5 percent)
If you read the survey further down, your will find out that 60 % of public libraries have inadequate Internet connection, 81% don’t have enough computers and 94 % impose time limits on the use of public PCs.”
Therefore it is really clear that governments who cut library budgets AND move more strongly towards e-government are truly damaging their citizens ability to access government services.
Seems silly, no? It appears that if governments were actualy trying to derive savings from e-government initiatives then then they would be wiser to increase funding to public libraries or risk failure. Then again they could even try strategies that have failed in the past in many other countries where access was attempted in government offices, post offices or special new retail branches of the government. You’d think in this economic climate they’d try a strategy that was cost effective AND works – Public Libraries.
Stephen