Seattle

One week, high school students from West Seattle, Rainier, and Franklin, Washington, participate in a live computer videoconference; the next week, they observe an over-the-Internet cybercast of the Space Shuttle crew at work. All of them, as Seattle residents, are entitled to an email account and have access to hundreds of public computer terminals, which provide unlimited text-based access to the Internet. A smaller but growing number of computers, also open to the public, offer the latest in graphical and multimedia applications.

Rather than AT&T's ever-hopeful "You will" ad campaign, the Seattle Public Library's Center for Technology has already made these events happen. And these services are geared not toward corporate giants but, free of charge, toward every Seattle resident.

Building on a history of offering basic literacy classes, hosting cultural exhibits, providing homework assistance programs, and collaborating with community organizations, the Seattle Public Library has one of the most technologically advanced public library telecommunications programs in the country. But Willem Scholten, former director of the library's Technology Center, is quick to acknowledge that these services would not have been possible without the tight collaboration of the other "pillars of information" in the Seattle community. The library is "just one of many parts that make up the community, which includes the school system, churches, community organizations-we have to solve [problems] as collaborative unit," Scholten says. Nevertheless, Scholten takes seriously the particular responsibility of the public library to provide public access to high technology. "Since the library is one of our main information outlets, it plays a big part in providing democratic access to this technology. Therefore, we must adapt to changing ways of disseminating information."

In addition to simply providing access, however, Scholten sees new roles the library can play in the community by incorporating the technology into its functions. "Libraries are not just warehouses of content for people to take from," Scholten insists, "but they can take in content as well and store it for the next three hours or 50 years."

"It is like the printing press, when stories were distributed on paper," he explains. "It is very well possible that the new form we are going to use to transport stories is by computer." In this scenario, "libraries have an incredibly important role to play. By tradition, libraries are the last safety net to ensure that everybody has access."

The SPL began offering full public access to the Internet on July 6, 1993. Every branch in the city offered the service through their online catalog, making the Internet available in 23 locations, including two branches located in housing projects. According to Craig Buthod, deputy city librarian, the public's response was overwhelming. Within a few months the library was recording 60,000 user connections per month.

Undoubtedly, one of the greatest draws to the program was access to the Seattle Community Network (SCN). According to Bob Mascott, board member of the Seattle Community Network, the SCN began as a project of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Although it originally came online in November 1992, the network did not have its official opening until summer 1993. Because the network began operating at about the same time that the library was putting in terminals for accessing their catalog system and the Internet, cooperation between the two programs began immediately. "They have ended up working as a mutual thing," Mascott says. With easy links on the library catalogs to the Seattle Community Network, the library provides the public access terminals necessary for a community network to thrive. As Mascott explains, "The library has always been a part of SCN. It is an integral part of the project. We have adopted the library rules in which reaching the public is a necessary part of the program." In return, the SCN offers email accounts and provides ongoing training for library users. These "Roadshows," made up of traveling teams of computer instructors, visit community groups and branch libraries spreading information about this new technology. Mascott explains that the library and SCN "have blended in together to serve common purposes."

Despite the early assistance from the Seattle Community Network, requests for training were still going unanswered. In response, Shelley Adatto, an SPL librarian, began organizing classes in November 1993. By early 1994, according to Adatto, "the classes just blossomed." Under a new name-Drivers Education on the Information Superhighway-the classes have increased from two or three a month to 25 90-minute classes with hands-on training every month. In response to demand, the SPL began offering the same class at several branch libraries.

Since Drivers Ed began, the SPL has added targeted training, for example, with the Seattle Arts Commission and other arts organizations. The library has also trained groups of seniors from retirement centers on navigating the Internet and is pursuing training for the visually impaired.

According to Adatto, "Libraries are to help people look forward in their lives. The Internet is embellishing on that-we are helping people to become comfortable with new technology, educating people to look forward in their lives. I sense that this is a continuation of what libraries are all about, even if the technology is all very new."

The hardware

The Seattle Public Library's Internet connections comes via a T-1 feed. For the Mark Twain project, West Seattle High School and the Rainier Beach Library were linked to the central library with T-1 lines. Plans include connecting the High Point Public Library with a T-1.

Opened during 1995, the Center for Technology, with Willem Scholten as director, is designed to "function as a catalyst and linking agent, bringing together the needs of the public, the skills of information professionals and the products of high technology companies." It completes a triangle of services by complementing the Center for the Book and Center for Literacy Advocacy. This innovative approach to library organization ensures that technology, literacy, and reading become integrated parts of both the library and the various communities that SPL serves.

The goal of the Center for Technology "is to apply state of the art information technologies to accomplishing the traditional purpose of the public library" by

One of the first events the center contributed to was the Mark Twain project, featuring a 20-minute presentation by historian George Frein, who dressed, spoke, and acted like Twain himself. While Franklin high school students asked questions of Mark Twain from the library auditorium, Rainier and West Seattle High School students participated over an Internet videoconference network, the Experimental Multimedia Network.

The collaborative project reflects the integrated approach the Seattle Public Library is taking toward technology. The Living History Project, for example, organized by the Center for the Book, brings literary and historical figures "alive" through live performances by humanities scholars. The "Virtual Learning Community," which carried the presentation over the Internet, is a joint project sponsored by various organizations, corporations, public schools, and local government. In addition, the Center for Technology has made electronic versions of several of Mark Twain's books available on their World Wide Website. The Mark Twain project is an excellent example of using technology and telecommunications as a tool to not only enhance programs, but cement relationships between community players.

One of the community players is Jim McConnell, principal at West Seattle High School, who comments on the project's impact on the school. "We are now able to utilize technology in ways we previously couldn't." Cooperating with the library is really opening the eyes of our teachers." The preparation the students and teachers made alone justified the project: "We're primed to do it again-this was kind of a teaser, it is whetting our appetites."

As with most of the programs, the emphasis and the strength is not the technology itself but how the technology is used. As Scholten explains, "This was the first real attempt to marry literature and technology. However, while the hype is on the technology side, the story is way bigger than that. This was the first act of collaboration in which kids were creating content." The results of the discussion-questions, comments, and all-were placed on the World Wide Web, available for everybody with access to the Internet to read and watch.

"The library of the future must serve the entire spectrum of library users, from elementary and secondary students to university scholars, from the general reading public to the technical specialist, providing seamless access to all fields of knowledge."

-Willem Sholten, former director, Center for Technology

With the Rainier Beach Library and West Seattle High hooked up with high-speed data lines, the Seattle Public Library is moving toward a broadband community information network. This project has the potential to greatly expand education, information, and communications opportunities. Although Willem Scholten has moved on, the library continues the important collaborations that make Seattle a valuable example of public access to technology.

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