1999 Followup Survey of Internet Connectivity in NN/LM Member Libraries

December 20, 1999

NLM and the Regional Medical Libraries carried out studies in 1993 and 1997 to determine the level of Internet connectivity in the approximately 4,500 member libraries in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). A followup was conducted in 1999 and is reported on here. From the 1999 study, we find that nearly all- 93% - of the member libraries are now connected to the Internet, and an additional 2% expect to be connected within the next twelve months. Nearly two-thirds of all libraries and over half of hospital libraries have direct (LAN) connections to the Internet.

Method: The focus was on hospitals. Those not responding to the 1997 survey and those not yet connected as of the time of survey mailout were surveyed. We also surveyed all new network members and a 10% sample of network members who were connected at the time of the 1997 survey. To adjust for the fact that we sampled the last group, we weighted their responses by 10 in our analysis.

Response rate: 1505 questionnaires were sent out. Taking out duplicates and institutions not eligible, this becomes 1455. 1402 questionnaires were returned for a 96% response rate. Because response rates were so high across all groups surveyed, we did not adjust the results of the survey for nonresponse.

Analysis: Results for each of the questions asked in 1999 are presented below. Results for individual regions are available.

The survey universe reflected in the analysis is 3,832 network member libraries, including 2,871 hospital libraries. This is based on weighting the 1,402 actual respondents as indicated above, to take into consideration the sampling that was done of known connected libraries. Analyses of questions 2-5 report on the estimated 3,550 libraries that are connected to the Internet and of questions 7-8 on the estimated 282 libraries that are not connected.

Q1: Does your library have a connection to the Internet?

Percentage of Libraries Connected

This figure shows the numbers of each type of library connected in each of the three years, highlighting the fact that hospitals account for both the largest number of connected libraries and the greatest increases in connectivity.

The proportion of libraries connected to the Internet varies by region, from a low of 82% in region 5 to a high of 97% in region 8. The proportion of hospital libraries connected is similar, ranging from a low of 79% in region 5 to a high of 96% in region 8.

There was some variation among the groups surveyed: the percentage connected was 78% for the libraries not previously connected, 82% for those not responding to the previous survey, and 93% for new network members. Seven libraries (6 hospital and one other) previously reporting that they were connected indicated that they are not now. These are very small libraries and it was not possible to determine if they had in fact been connected in 1997.

Q2: How many workstations with an Internet connection does the library have?

27% of all respondents with network connections have one workstation, and the remaining 73% have more than one. The number of hospital libraries having only one is slightly higher, 33%.

Q3: Who uses these workstations?

As shown, Internet workstations in hospital libraries are somewhat less likely to be used by the public.

The types of users varied somewhat according to the number of workstations. As shown, hospital libraries with a single Internet workstation are less likely to have that workstation used by each of the user categories. In only 7% of hospital libraries with one Internet workstation do the public use that workstation.

Q4. What type of connection to the Internet does your library have?

As shown, the majority of libraries of all types have direct connections to the Internet. Hospital libraries have the lowest incidence of direct connections, only 55%. Hospital libraries continue to have direct connections to the Internet in about the same proportion as they reported in 1997.

Q5. Are e-mail (electronic mail), FTP (file transfer protocol) and World Wide Web capabilities available in your library?

Access to the World Wide Web is available in nearly all (97%) of the libraries having Internet connections, and access to email is available in 91%. Two-thirds of the responding libraries reported having FTP capabilities, with an additional 24% indicating that they did not know if they had FTP. There were not significant differences in capabilities among the different types of libraries. These are about the same proportions of libraries reporting each type of functionality as was found in 1997.

Q6. When does your library plan to connect to the Internet?

A projected 269 hospital libraries and 13 academic and other libraries were not currently connected to the Internet. Looking at the hospital library group, about a quarter do not plan to connect. In comments, these libraries that did not plan to connect generally talked about having very small libraries and sometimes mentioned the availability of the Internet at other locations. The number of academic and other libraries not yet connected to the Internet was very small.

Q7. Please rate barriers which might affect your library's ability to connect to the Internet.

When the libraries not connected to the Internet were asked about barriers, cost of computer hardware and level of management support were the most frequently selected choices as severe barriers. About equal numbers of libraries indicated that these were not barriers. A significant proportion of libraries - ranging from 38-46% - indicated that they did not know whether a particular issue was a barrier. Respondents? descriptions of other barriers were mostly concerned with the small size of their library as noted above.

The barriers perceived in 1999 are consistent with those reported in 1997.

Last updated: 12 June 2001
First published: 20 December 1999
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content