One spring day last year a retired church secretary came hesitatingly into the Virtual Library run by Mike Moyer of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She wanted to find some part-time work to supplement her Social Security but had found that her skills were badly outdated. The Virtual Library staff taught her how to use the CD-ROM tutorials on word processing skills available in the library and encouraged her to sign up for two hours of practice time a day on the library's computers. These are just two illustrations of seniors' motivation for and means of obtaining an introduction to the Internet. It is gratifying to me that these senior citizens turned to their local public library for help.
Libraries are familiar places for seniors.
They feel comfortable using their local libraries to catch up on out of state newspapers, to check on their investments, to research their family histories, and to borrow materials for entertainment and enlightenment. Older adults tend to participate more frequently in the political process than do other age groups. They are among the most active citizens and their voter participation is among the highest. What we see today is the library serving as the electronic gateway and information lifeline for many seniors, and this is something that will grow as our senior population grows. The elderly are using the libraries' access to the Internet to keep up with the activities of their local and state governments, to visit the homepages of their governors, mayors, and city and town councils, and their Senators and Members of Congress, and to register their opinions via electronic mail with their elected representatives.