| Statement of the problem. Today public libraries are being subjected to two changes—the expanding use of the Internet and America's rapidly changing demographics. To adequately perform their tasks in light of these forces, librarians must identify ways of assessing the effectiveness of their activities and understanding their changing roles and responsibilities. Technology is rapidly changing the way public libraries provide services. Never has the public library undergone such massive change at such frequency. Benton (1996) seemed to suggest that the public library will become an institution of the past, because people can bypass public libraries by accessing information directly through home computers. Others (Estabrook, 1997; Majka, 1999) believe that alternate information providers will compete more effectively. If public libraries are to survive, they must adapt to the changing times; maintaining their traditional services, while interacting personally with patrons. The purpose of this study was to identify what public librarians and public library users perceive as the roles and responsibilities of public libraries.; A survey of public library users and librarians in a DeKalb County Public Library was conducted to ascertain their perceptions of what the roles and responsibilities of the public library should be in the age of technology. Surveys were mailed to 52 part-time and full-time professional librarians in the library system. Stratification based on socioeconomic status and ethnicity was used to randomly select three branch libraries. Surveys were distributed to all library users visiting the library during the study. A total of 636 completed surveys were collected from library users but only 564 of these were useable.; The results of the study indicated that library users from all demographic groups still value the public library. It was also found that library users' support for the public library does not show any sign of waning. A majority of the library users indicated that they want the public library to continue to provide balanced traditional and technologically based library services. |
