Info People

In March 1994 only one community in California offered free public access to the Internet. Twelve months later, with the help of the California State Library's InFoPeople (Internet for People) project, individuals in over 180 communities across the state could access the global network of information simply by stepping into their neighborhood public library.

The project involves a diverse group of libraries, including the Alpine County Library in rural Markleeville and the inner-city Watts Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library System. InFoPeople has taken a unique approach. Unlike other statewide programs, which focus on wide area networks to link libraries together and then to the Internet, InFoPeople opted instead to provide the resources for individual libraries to establish their own independent Internet connections.

The program has had tremendous success in linking communities together around the library. Schools, political associations, senior citizens groups, and other organizations have all been involved in putting the new resource to use in creative and practical ways which are detailed below. Rural communities geographically isolated from the rest of the state have taken advantage of this library-based resource to obtain state and government information. And people without access to the Internet at home or work have been able to discover and explore it without paying the usual costs associated with connectivity.

The InFoPeople project started within the California State Library as a way to provide Internet access to the public using the Partnerships for Change program as a model. This program, already in place in several locations across the state, facilitated collaborative projects between libraries and other groups in the community. According to Carol Gilbert, network specialist with the California State Library, the responsive relationship libraries had with their communities made them ideal access points for the Internet. Furthermore, with each library working with a member or group from the community to design the program and train users, the type of Internet services provided could be more easily tailored toward the needs of that community.

The program got off the ground in 1994 when the California State Library released the guidelines for grant applications. From nearly 200 proposals, 182 awards were given to a wide array of libraries from Del Norte County in the northwest to El Centro in the southeast. Under the agreement the participants were shipped a computer, modem, and a printer; provided with 100 hours of free access to the Internet; and given basic training on Internet navigation.

In return the participants were required to make a few commitments. They had to contribute by sending a staff member to each training session, conduct at least one transfer-training session for other staff, and assign librarians to experiment with the Internet for at least one hour a week. In addition, participants had to choose a community partner. The partner and the library were to work as a team in identifying the needs of the community and designing the best training model to ensure that the people who needed the service the most had access. By the end of the first year, participants had to install workstations in a public space and maintain the service for at least five years.

Markleeville, home to the Alpine County Library, is located along the Nevada border, south of Tahoe and far from the large urban centers on the coast. According to assistant librarian Mary Wood, InFoPeople has provided an invaluable connection between Alpine County and the rest of California. "Many people use the terminals to see what's going on in the state," she explains.

Independence, a town of 600 residents, faces similar problems. The closest city to Independence is Bishop, 60 miles to the north. Glenna Stansifer, the county library director, points out that their Internet connection has allowed the library to offer new services for the community and explains that it "is a good tool to get in touch with people, not just computer hardware talking to computer hardware, but real people-to-people contact."

In Del Norte County, another rural area on the other side of the state near the Oregon border, Cris McCollum, library director, explains that "people have moved to this community for its quality of life; however, educational and enrichment resources are very limited here." The InFoPeople project has expanded the library's ability to provide these resources to the public.

Unlike these rural examples, the Mark Twain Public Library is located in the urban Long Beach area. But the community it serves is in many ways isolated from the rest of the city. The InFoPeople project at Mark Twain is primarily geared toward low-income junior high school kids who do not have the resources to visit the central library or larger branch libraries in other parts of the city. The Internet gives them access to an enormous amount of resources far beyond what their branch is financially capable of providing. According to Mark Parker, library systems manager, "Libraries may be unique in that they can provide a full spectrum of information regardless of format or content. In this respect, the Internet is an important tool of the trade."

Often in rural or isolated communities the library is the only commercial-free link to the rest of the world. InFoPeople, recognizing the importance of maintaining this link, provides the resources for libraries to continue this service.

By accessing the Internet in the context of the library, people more easily grasp the potential of the Internet as a research and information tool. Many InFoPeople libraries report Internet training sessions are booked full with little or no publicity. According to Scott Bauer, automation librarian at the Contra Costa County Library, many people have read or heard about the Internet and simply want to see what it is all about. In return, Bauer says, "providing Internet access increases community awareness for the other services offered by the library."

InFoPeople mandates that each library choose a community partner to help develop the system, because it recognizes that libraries must provide not only vast amounts of information from around the world, but also relevant and customized information for the communities they serve. In practice this portion of the program proved more difficult than it appeared on paper. As the community partners serve on a volunteer basis, many libraries reported sketchy partnerships with few tangible benefits. Other partners had little or no technical expertise and therefore did not feel competent in contributing to the project. Nonetheless, many sites reported successful partnerships. The Del Norte County Library chose the local Small Business Association (SBA) to be their partner. With more computer terminals available than the library, the SBA agreed to hold the training sessions at their location. The Central Branch of the Long Beach Public Library also chose a business-related partner, but their focus was on international business, as Long Beach is a port city. Other libraries worked with associations like the Public Corporation for the Arts, political organizations such as the League of Women Voters, and health-related agencies like the local Mental Health Association. Still other libraries picked individuals to serve as community liaisons. One library chose a coordinator for homeless programs; another chose a member of a senior center computer club. Representatives from the local government were also popular choices.

Connection details

Each library is provided 100 free access hours through CERFnet, a service provider chosen through a competitive bidding process. Two accounts are available, one for staff and one for the public, accessible via a local or toll-free dial-up number. Libraries can access the Internet through either a shell account or a Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) account. A library-oriented gopher server maintained by InFoPeople provides access to the Library of Congress'LC Marvel gopher, other libraries' gophers, and California Legislative Information. When the free hours expire, each library must find its own service provider.

One of the more successful community partnerships was initiated by the Mark Twain Branch of the Long Beach Public Library, located in a low-income, primarily Cambodian neighborhood with a large percentage of children. The branch already had a partnership with the local junior high school, under which volunteers help students with homework after school. The InFoPeople project continued this relationship, providing the Internet as an additional research and homework tool. According to Mary Hopman, general librarian at the branch, "We're reaching and convincing kids that education is fun and interesting. Without an educational background, children in this neighborhood won't have a good life. Having a positive impression of education is very important."

Programs like this reveal the complexity in providing "universal" access to information. As each local area is different and has unique needs, no single plan for providing this access will work in all places. But the InFoPeople project, by taking advantage of relationships between local libraries and their experience in providing services to their communities, has made a significant first step toward universal access.

Although the original funding came from a one-year Library Services andConstruction Act (LSCA) grant, the California State Library has received additional LSCA funds to continue supporting the participating InFoPeople libraries until each library is able to fund its programs independently. Using this money, the California State Library offers advanced training workshops; planning sessions to help libraries work with community partners; refresher training courses; and support in locating Internet service providers once their 100 free hours are used. In addition, the California State Library is offering funds for libraries to apply for more grants. Many libraries have taken advantage of this additional money to upgrade their once speedy 9600 baud modem to a more current 14.4 or 28.8 modem. Other libraries are applying for grants to expand the program to branch libraries or to get more workstations. Many rural libraries with expensive phone bills are opting to apply for additional telecommunications support.

One new condition placed on these additional grants, however, is that each library must develop its own World Wide Website. This condition stems from the California State Library's goal of a networked state in which all libraries are linked to each other and other state resources through the web. InFoPeople's web page contains links to all participating libraries with home pages as well as to the state library's home page, and to other government-related pages (www.lib.berkeley.edu:8000).

While still in the development stages, the value of this interconnection is already reaching people in California. As one library user put it, in a message of thanks to Carole Leita of the Berkeley Public Library, "I find the library's home page to be very useful. Maintaining the links between the various threads inccyberspace could become the main job of the librarian. Keep up the good work."

Last updated: 3 June, 1997 mrl
http://www.benton.org/Library/Libraries/infopeople.html