The Public Access Computing Project at the University of Washington conducted an ongoing evaluation of the U.S. Libraries Program. We have also made grants to Florida State University’s Information Use Management and Policy Institute to study public access computing in all U.S. public libraries, and we hired Peter D. Hart Research Associates to do a survey of public access computer users. Through these studies, we learned that:

• In 1996, the year before the program started, less than 30 percent of public libraries were online. By 2005, that number was 99.6 percent.
  
  
• Public access computing at libraries helps those who otherwise have little or no access: 71 percent of library computer users say library computers are their primary form of access.
  
  
• Public access computing has helped reinvigorate libraries: Libraries that participated in our program reported a 36 percent increase in library traffic and a 9 percent increase in book circulation.

However, additional data also show that many libraries are having tremendous difficulty sustaining adequate public access computing programs.

• 63 percent of the libraries that participated in the original program are now at risk of having their programs become obsolete, because either their hardware or connection speeds don’t meet current standards.
  
  
• 85 percent of libraries don’t have enough computers for all the patrons who want to use them.
  
  
• 39 percent of libraries don’t have high-speed access, which means their patrons can’t use many of the most current applications. The vast majority of these are rural libraries, which are falling behind their urban and suburban counterparts.

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