The Pew Research Center has been awarded a three-year $1.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study role of public libraries and library users in the digital age.
Here's an excerpt from the press release:
Through national surveys, a series of focus groups in a diverse mix of communities, and special surveys of library patrons, the Pew Internet Project will examine how library users' habits and tastes are changing in the age of e-books, widespread mobile connectivity and the existence of vast digital collections. . . .
"Few institutions have been more challenged by the rise of the internet and mobile connectivity than the local library," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project. "Many libraries have responded with innovations and sweeping overhauls in the way they deliver on their missions. With the Gates Foundation's support, the Pew Internet Project will provide an in-depth, data-driven analysis of how libraries are responding to technology trends, and how communities' expectations are changing at a time when library functions are in flux."
| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |