Joseph Woelfel

The impact of the internet on public library use: an analysis of the current consumer market for library and internet services

The potential impact of the Internet on the publics demand for the services and resources of public libraries is an issue of critical importance. The research reported in this article provides baseline data concerning the evolving relationship between the publics use of the library and its use of the Internet. The authors developed a consumer model of the American adult market for information services and resources, segmented by use (or nonuse) of the public library and by access (or lack of access) to, and use (or nonuse) of, the Internet. A national Random Digit Dialing telephone survey collected data to estimate the size of each of six market segments, and to describe their usage choices between the public library and the Internet. The analyses presented in this article provide estimates of the size and demographics of each of the market segments; describe why people are currently using the public library and the Internet; identify the decision criteria people use in their choices of which provider to use; identify areas in which libraries and the Internet appear to be competing and areas in which they appear to be complementary; and identify reasons why people choose not to use the public library and/or the Internet. The data suggest that some differentiation between the library and the Internet is taking place, which may very well have an impact on consumer choices between the two. Longitudinal research is necessary to fully reveal trends in these usage choices, which have implications for all types of libraries in planning and policy development.

Procedures for controlling reference frame effects in the measurement of multidimensional processes

A wide array of perceptual mapping techniques have been developed which make it possible to describe the dissimilarities relations among datapoints as spatial arrays. While most of these present advantages and disadvantages for representing any single dataset, special difficulties arise when time-ordered data are available. These difficulties arise from the fact that the directional orientation of such techniques are (necessarily) arbitrary. When multiple datasets are scaled, therefore, the arbitrary orientations of each of the maps representing each of the time points render the description of motion and change difficult or impossible.This problem can be solved by choosing a set of stable points within the process to serve as anchoring reference points for controlling the orientation of the individual “frames”. A worked through example is provided, in which the positions of the end points of the hands of a clock are mapped over ten intervals of time using conventional methods and the method proposed. Results indicate that a satisfactory choice of stable referent points, along with a suitable choice of rotation and translation rules, can overcome the original difficulty.