Civic Space/Cyberspace: The American Public Library in the Information Age

By Phyllis Dain and Redmond Kathleen Molz

Book Overview

Quintessentially American institutions, symbols of community spirit and the American faith in education, public libraries are ubiquitous in the United States. Close to a billion library visits are made each year, and more children join summer reading programs than little league baseball. Public libraries are local institutions, as different as the communities they serve. Yet their basic services, techniques, and professional credo are essentially similar; and they offer, through technology and cooperative agreements, myriad materials and information far beyond their own walls. In Civic Space/Cyberspace , Redmond Kathleen Molz and Phyllis Dain assess the current condition and direction of the American public library. They consider the challenges and opportunities presented by new electronic technologies, changing public policy, fiscal realities, and cultural trends. They draw on site visits and interviews conducted across the country; extensive reading of reports, surveys, and other documents; and their long-standing interest in the library's place in the social and civic structure. The book uniquely combines a scholarly, humanistic, and historical approach to public libraries with a clear-eyed look at their problems and prospects, including their role in the emerging national information infrastructure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262632225
• ISBN13: 9780262632225
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A solid overview of public libraries and issues they face

*The subtitle is: the American public library in the information age.The main strength of this book is in the historical perspective it offers. The authors give a broad, national overview of the public library as an institution, its governance and funding, and U.S. national information policy generally. This historical, research based approach makes for somewhat dense reading, but also makes the book a valuable resource.The main drawback of Civic space/cyberspace is that the authors really do not provide much detail about the site visits to 22 libraries and other institutions which also shaped their thinking on the subject.I found it frustrating that the book's generally postive comments about the future of public libraries and the ways that they are adapting to information technology were second guessed by the very last paragraphs of the book.I would recommend this book mainly for librarians, library school students, or those significantly involved with public libraries in some way.