O TRAS A PORTACIONES DE LOS S ERVICIOS S OCIALES DE B ASE

either within the library or to take home, and if they subscribed to some kind of e-book provision service, like OverDrive or other consortiums. If a library offered readers it typically had to support them by teaching patrons and staff how to use them.

Examining the commonalities and differences in some of the infrastructure present in the observed libraries reveals some points of interest. Branches attached to larger systems had a disproportionate amount of resources, in their favor. Plainview, for instance, wouldn’t have even existed without help from a neighboring town. Paddock’s Branch had a spacious, brand-new computer lab and instructors who came in, both of which were setup and maintained by people at the main location. Otranto could draw on the e-reader resources and IT support of the whole network. In other words, library systems with branches enable a more equitable spread of services and assets throughout a community, especially those with large populations or service areas.

Public computer terminals and broadband internet access appear to be near-ubiquitous in Illinois. It was essential in even the most under-resourced and rural libraries I visited, though there were significant variations in internet infrastructure. For this set of libraries the number of public use computers did not appear to scale proportionately with population. One of the premises in the 160

sample selection was that state-wide averages would make it difficult to make comparisons possible for individual libraries. In Illinois less than half of libraries reside in densely populated urban locations, whereas the others are serving small towns and rural areas. If the Illinois average for public internet workstations is 18, how does a small library know it has enough computers? Similarly, how might a larger library know it has too few? Clearly one sound answer to this query is to measure open computer time and frequency of use, but the data here allows us another way to evaluate what might be “typical” or “expected” for a library. The form in which the computers are arranged is also not represented by the total number: different layouts promote different kinds of services and experiences.

Libraries with dedicated computer labs, laptops or spaces that could be isolated were better able to offer formal computer classes, typically for adults. Many libraries built these spaces in response to program and service needs, but to some extent it worked the other way around: dedicated and flexible computing spaces opened up opportunities for new kinds of activities like tech-driven teen spaces. Whether or not a library has a computer instruction lab supplies a crucial layer of detail when addressing the question of how many public internet access workstations a library offers— it directly relates to how they can be used. Some libraries have a lot of computers, which might cause people to assume they also have a lab, but this is not always the case.

While some libraries had dedicated teen spaces, they often appeared to just be for a space to make available books and magazines of possible interest to teens, not spaces designed to help teens feel comfortable and engage with information or learning activities. As a researcher I found it particularly odd—when have the majority of teens ever, technology or not, been excited to come read quietly in isolation in a library? The temporary teen spaces assembled in meeting rooms and auditoriums seemed to automatically benefit from the unassuming format because they weren’t built around text materials as the focal point, they were built around desired social and learning activities and interactions. Many libraries recognized Chicago Public Library’s YouMedia as an exemplary teen space, both because it’s teen-driven and because of its seamless integration of technologies, but many libraries didn’t know how to achieve anything comparable. The reasons included the typical reasons like lack of funding, space and equipment, but also other less distinguished factors, like a lack of staff with teen-friendly personalities, digital literacies, diverse demographics or existing networks with teens.

When I asked about technologies and programs related to digital literacy nearly every library explained they were offering e-readers. This frequently resulted in teaching patrons how to use the devices or make informed decisions about which ones to buy, but also meant that they weren’t really teaching active information production, instead just another form of consumption. Since many libraries weren’t able to offer many e-books, due to a lack of strong bargaining positions with publishers, they were effectively encouraging patrons to buy books online instead of get physical ones at the library, a service that ultimately was hazardous to the social norms of their own institution.

Libraries in my sample set were also often afraid to loan out e-readers (or multimedia equipment of other kinds) to patrons, as they expected the devices were costly and could be stolen or damaged. I did not speak to any libraries that had tried this and found it to be cost-prohibitive; they were all too new to the service.

COMPUTER CAPABILITIES

Library

Plainview City Branch 2.06 Timed out MS 2007 XP Chrome

Belle Terre District

Grand Ridge Public 0.34 0.17 MS 2010 7 Chrome

Altura 30.8 0.89 MS 2010 7

Shipton 17.8 2.63 OO 3.3 7

Norburry Many Many Several

Aquarin

Paddock Branch 4.66 0.19 MS 2007 7

Wrightsville Community 0.03 None MS 2010 7 Firefox,

Chrome

Otranto Magnolia Branch 1.36 7

Eastover Library 14.64 4.94 MS 2007 XP

Rowland Heights 4.02 3.8 OO 3.3 XP Firefox

Dalhurst 31.63 0.09 MS 2003 XP Firefox

Stony Point** 40.29 MS 2007 7 Firefox,

Chrome

Illinois Average *

Table 5 - Computer and internet capabilities and flexibility.

* 36% of Illinois falls within 1.5-3 mbs, another 35.5% of Illinois has greater than 10 mbs ** Status in 2013

Broadband Test – A simple demonstration of broadband download speed at the time of visit,

using www.Speedtest.net. This rating was not rigorously tested but instead values are provided to 163

demonstrate the sheer variation from quoted speeds during a typical operation time. The particularly low values (Grand Ridge, Wrightsville) were probably situations in which the entire internet pipeline was being utilized by some kind of intensive bandwidth-demanding application, like Netflix or a virus. I did ask libraries if their wireless shared the same line as their desktop internet but they didn’t always know. Blank values were circumstances when I was unable to actually test this on a computer.

Wireless Test – Another simple demonstration of broadband download speed gathered at the time

of visit, using the iOS application version of Speedtest.net on my iPhone 4S. Only one measure was taken and always with the main public wifi network (there was never a case when there was more than one available). Higher numbers could indicate sites with either more powerful wireless or less use of wireless devices, and may also be related to proximity to the router. Plainview timed out because the network was being hijacked by someone outside of the library, likely. The director was trying to figure out how to stop this at the time.

Office Version – Some libraries chose to invest time or resources into more recent office versions,

while others saved costs by use of open source. Many libraries expressed an interest in keeping up with the latest Microsoft Office production software, so when they ran classes they could better prepare learners for getting jobs.

Operating System (OS) – The operating system available on computers. At the time of data

collection Windows XP was still being supported by Microsoft, but was considered obsolete nonetheless, as it was over a decade old. Only Norburry deployed Apple computers or Linux.

Alternative Browsers – The installation of alternative web browsers (as opposed to Internet

Explorer, the Windows default) may be a reflection of more knowledgeable or conscientious systems managers. Chrome is lighter weight and better for older computers and Firefox is open source and facilitates a well-established range of plugins. Technical individuals often see choice of web browser as a cultural indicator of expertise. Older versions of Internet Explorer were common on many of the Windows XP machines and were a possible security vulnerability. No library had the most-cutting edge equipment across the board. Even those with Office 2010 and Windows 7 were not the latest generation of hardware. Many libraries were running XP to 164

maintain compatibility with their imaging, security and other software solutions, but this aging OS was increasingly vulnerable, representing a certain irony in this relationship. Several libraries even fielded equipment that dated as far back as 2005 or 2006. I was able to run a variety of operations at many libraries that could have been used to exploit machines or steal patron data, such as executing applications (a keylogger,70 _{for instance). Many shortcuts were not blocked if you knew}

the run commands. In some cases computers may not have been actively managed at all. I was able to find personal files dating back several months or saved passwords on popular websites. In other cases the opposite was the case, computers were overly restrictive, causing problems like users being logged out when they clicked the start button, to find that they didn’t have the password to log back in and that they had lost all of their remaining session time.

Broadband was often very strained and could easily be hampered by HD video streaming if rate limiting systems were not in place. It never measured in at full-speed at any location I visited. Similarly I counted both fewer and more available and functional public-use workstations than were reported in databases online. This means reported numbers were likely often estimates or simply inaccurate reflections of reality. This is important to note when trying to determine the value of a library’s IT assets in a comparative manner. The average broadband speed at public libraries may not mean very much if the average available broadband while under duress is considerably volatile. Likewise it’s great if a library has the potential for 20 fully-operational internet computers, but if 5 of them are consistently bogged down by viruses or spyware the measure becomes more questionable.

PEOPLE

Whether or not people were available to help patrons with learning computers or other digital devices helped to determine if a given library was able to foster digital literacies.

70 _{A software program that runs invisibly in the background and records user keystrokes. Sometimes used to capture}

passwords and information like credit card numbers.

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TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE