Library offers internet access

Library of the Future - The Information Revolution 

In the 1990s the World Wide Web began as a network of networks in which users had to find access points in order to exchange textual information. It transformed into an always-on, always available, multimedia window on the world. (And this description doesn’t even take into account the behaviors that would change once mobile technologies became ubiquitous.) In the early and middle part of the decade, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library led the community in getting online.

Director Robert Cannon believed that libraries could and should provide information through electronic media as well as through print. The library had already begun to keep circulation records in electronic form in 1980, and the Hickory Grove branch (1986) led the way with an electronic catalog that showed the holdings of the entire system. (Ryckman, pp.26-27)Patricia Ryckman, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County: A Century of Service. (Charlotte, NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1989) pp.26-27 New media for the times such as CD-ROMs promised to deliver information more efficiently than, say, printed encyclopedias, and some users had become accustomed to electronic information service in university or business settings. In addition to keeping up with tech-savvy customers, advocates for computers in libraries could argue that the new technologies strengthened the information literacy of the entire community.

Using federal grant money and local government funds, a non-profit group called “Charlotte’s Web” organized in 1994 and began operating out of the Main Library the next year. It defined its mission as the creation of “self-sustaining electronic community.” The electronic community was intended for everybody, and so to this end it allowed users to create free accounts. Some of the funds went to create access points in libraries and other public places. Volunteers created thousands of public service pages, conducted free training sessions for beginners, and did the technical work to install and connect donated equipment. Looking back on the two years of partnership with Charlotte’s Web, Library Director Robert Cannon said, “[I]t pushed us ahead in new technology and the Internet. It was the best thing that ever happened to stimulate growth technically for both the schools and the library.” The library could now count on a core of technologically savvy citizens to reach through this new medium. New staff positions, training for existing staff, and investment in computers for staff and the public followed as a result. (Lockwood and Mitchie, 1997)Joan Mitchie and John Lockwood, "Evaluation of the Telecommunications and Information Assistance Program, Case Study Report: Charlotte's Web, 94022, Charlotte, North Carolina" (U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications & Information Administration: 1997), pp.10-11.

Works Cited:

Lockwood, John and Mitchie, Joan. "Evaluation of the Telecommunications and Information Assistance Program, Case Study Report: Charlotte's Web, 94022, Charlotte, North Carolina." U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications & Information Administration: 1997. https://www.ntia.doc.gov/legacy/otiahome/top/research/EvaluationReport/Case_Studies/charlotte-nc.pdf (Accessed December 22, 2015.)

Ryckman, Patricia. Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County: A Century of Service. Charlotte, NC: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1989