The purpose of this study was to obtain descriptive information about the nation's public library connectivity, use, and costs related to the Internet. The study gathered data from a national sample of public libraries from the period between May and July 1997. Unlike the 1994 and 1996 students, the 1997 study drew a new library sample that differed in 3 significant ways: (1) is used a larger sample size; (3) it did not use the region strata, but rather a metropolitan status strata; and (3) it used redefined population of legal service area strata. The findings presented suggest that there are numerous strategies and approaches for providing Internet-based services and resources to the public; there are numerous models for designing and deploying information technologies to provide access and services; there are multiple approaches and a range of different costs associated with providing these services that depend on local, situational factors that are very difficult to generalize; and that the diversity of public library Internet connectivity configurations, services and costs will continue to increase as libraries strive to provide network-based services in a rapidly evolving policy and technology context. The study limited its attention to the following key areas: budget spent on Internet-related services, technology deployment, and social issues. The data reported contribute to the ongoing effort to address these issues and topics for the public library community as well as for a range of policy makers at the federal, state and local settings. (AEF)