The Public Access Computing Project (PACP) at the University of Washington engaged in a five-year, multi-method, independent research project. This effort was designed to assess the impact of the U.S. Libraries initiative on patrons, libraries, and communities, and to provide feedback to the foundation regarding evaluation procedures.

The evaluation process included repeated administration of questionnaires to library administrators, staff librarians, and library patrons in 18 focus states; repeated national- and state-level random digit dial (RDD) telephone surveys with particular interest towards low-income neighborhoods; site visits to hundreds of libraries, several Native American reservations and other sites; focus groups with library and foundation staff; and numerous other data-gathering strategies.

Summary of Reports
The PACP found that several groups rely entirely on public libraries for access to computers and the Internet, including minorities, the unemployed, and those from lower income groups. Patrons use these computers to learn new skills, find jobs and keep in touch with family. But librarians need help to sustain public-access computing. Click the link below to view a summary of major findings from the reports.

Key PACP Reports
The chart below lists five of the key reports. Click each one’s title for an executive summary; the full reports are available in Microsoft Word and .pdf formats. (Get the free Adobe Acrobat Reader for .pdf files.)

For access to all reports, view the chart on this page.

Executive Summaries Full Report Word Format Full Report Adobe Format Most Libraries Maintaining Public Access Computing Programs, but 25% Are Still Fragile (February 2004) (4.1Mb) (330K) Kids Have Access, Enjoy Computers: Libraries Key for Many, Especially the Disadvantaged(October 2003) (58K) (139K)   The Gates Legacy - Library Journal (March 2003) N/A   N/A   The Impact of Public Access Computing on Rural and Small Town Libraries (January 2003) (1.75K) (287K)   People from Low-Income Families Disproportionately Use Library Computers (October 2002) (3.58MB) (289K)