Public libraries serve increasingly critical roles in the knowledge society. Public libraries currently serve integral roles in their communities through the provision of free public Internet access. Libraries have become technology centers where critical information services are offered to their communities. This is an analysis of the greater potentiality public libraries possess in bridging the ‘digital divide’ in the United States. An examination of the ways in which networked services can aid people in disadvantaged communities is provided, as well an exploration of the coordinated efforts of local municipalities and public libraries in the provision of public Internet access. The predominate statistics used were produced by the PEW Internet and American Life Project 2008 study of US Broadband Penetration and the 2007 report “Public Libraries and the Internet” for the American Library Association (ALA) by Florida State University, which analyzed the impact of Internet-based services by public libraries in their communities.
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