Recently Released Report: U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies, 2012

Here’s a new edition of the U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies report from the Library Research Service (part of the Colorado State Library).
It was written by Meghan Wanucha and Linda Hofschire.
Highlights from a LRS Blog Post:

…U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies, 2012, presents the findings of the third iteration of our biennial study, launched in 2008, that documents the use of various web technologies (social networking, virtual reference, blogs, etc.) on the websites of nearly 600 public libraries throughout the nation.
Our results showed that U.S. public libraries made big gains in the following areas from 2010 to 2012:
Social networking: More than half of all libraries were on Facebook. For libraries serving populations of 25,000-499,999, this number jumped to 4 in 5, and to more than 9 in 10 for the largest libraries (serving 500,000+). The smallest libraries (serving less than 10,000) showed the biggest increase in adoption of this social network from 2010 to 2012: 18% to 54%.
Mobile access: In 2010 we detected the presence of any type of mobile-friendly website access in only 12 percent of the largest public libraries, 3 percent of libraries serving 100,000-499,999, and no libraries serving less than 100,000. In 2012, three-fourths of the largest libraries offered mobile-friendly access, followed by about 3 in 5 libraries serving 25,000-499,999, one-third of libraries serving 10,000-24,000, and 17% of the smallest libraries.
Text reference: From 2010 to 2012, text reference increased by 231% in the largest libraries, 375% in libraries serving 100,000-499,999, 125% in libraries serving 25,000-99,999, and 250% in libraries serving 10,000-24,999.

Materials

• Direct to Full Text: U.S. Public Libraries and the Use of Web Technologies, 2012 (PDF; 40 pages)

• Fast Facts Infographic (PDF)

• Previous Editions of the Report and Other Data (2008 and 2010)

Hat Tip: @mattrweaver

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News, Public Libraries