The role of public libraries is changing in response to a multitude of influences and trends. The exponential growth of technology as the primary method of information access, funding challenges, changing demographics, and other mitigating factors have forced public libraries to become more than book repositories. Community library leaders and…

Games and other forms of play are used in today's libraries to attract underserved patrons, to introduce patrons to other library resources and services, and to facilitate engagement between library patrons. While many perceive gaming as a new library service, gaming services have been part of librarianship since the nineteenth century through…

This article reports on a research study designed to identify who participates in library-based summer reading clubs (SRCs) and why they elect to do so. To address this aim, questionnaires were completed by caregivers of 246 children upon enrollment to the SRC of a metropolitan library as well as 480 youth; the questionnaire was designed to learn…

This study uses articulation theory to frame how social actors and institutions in an urban community in Columbus, Ohio, form linkages and understandings about computer and information literacies. Using interviews with 33 key educators (e.g., principals, computer literacy teachers, library media specialists, district integration specialists),…

This study is the pilot project of a feasibility study to measure a community's receptiveness to a tax increase for public library capital improvements and to plan the marketing campaign to improve the likelihood of passage in Lake County, Ohio. This initial phase of the survey examined the pertinent profile of one community, the Village of…

In the interest of providing accountable and responsive service, the Columbus Public Library undertook a survey of business community use of the library's Business and Technology Division. The survey was directed at manufacturing, service, professional, trade, and retail firms in the central Ohio area. A one-page questionnaire was devised to…

This study of public libraries in Ohio explored whether voluntary state public library standards will be complied with to the same extent by smaller and larger libraries. Findings indicate that library size, as measured by population and income, is a factor in two categories of standards components: community input and library management. Contains…

In February, 1965 the boards of the Cleveland Public and Cuyahoga County Library Districts engaged the Regional Planning Commission to prepare a plan for the expansion or modification of their branch library systems. The general goal of the study was the design of a fully satisfying level of branch library service for the people of Cuyahoga…

Over the past two decades, an increasing number of American children are left in self-care after school each day. Parents of these latchkey children often turn to the library as a safe place for their children to go. The purpose of this study was to determine whether public libraries have responded since 1990 to the call put forward by concerned…

Objectives of this survey were to: (1) examine existing library conditions, (2) develop library service standards, (3) prepare a long-range plan for library service, and (4) estimate program costs and suggest means for implementing the plan. Survey methods included interviews with library staff and trustees, school personnel, and county and…

The operations of the bookmobile program of the Holmes County (Ohio) Public Library serving the Amish community were explored and observed. The Amish community comprises 40 percent of the entire population of Holmes County. Reading interests of the Amish using the bookmobile are analyzed informally to determine whether bookmobile services are…

This investigative study, through a questionnaire survey, was conducted to determine if public libraries in Ohio saw a need for library programs/outreach to the homeless, and if, indeed, any libraries had a structured program to serve the special needs of the homeless population. One library from each Ohio county was selected through systematic…

Volume 1 presents a summary of the methodology, problems, and recommendations of seven projects demonstrating the coordination of public library with public schools services for disadvantaged adults. The summary covers personnel (clients, orientation of undereducated adults to library services, readers' profiles, library cards, and advisory…