I am pleased to tell you this report is being printed now and we expect to have it available by the ALA conference in Chicago late this month. The models and the cost categories presented in this report are a first effort to define and describe typical costs related to public libraries' Internet connectivity and provision of services. As such, the study team expects that the identified costs can be further refined and defined as they are used in the field. These levels of public library involvement provide a planning framework within which library planners can identify the pertinent cost elements and cost ranges. Reach refers to the physical or geographic areas to which service is provided.
Range refers to the types of services available once connectivity is provided.
Our study team added a third dimension, governance, to encourage librarians to think about collaboration with other organizations. The models are examples of the types of connections and services that libraries can derive under each model. The worksheet, of which you have copies, identifies the major cost elements to consider, based on the level of involvement with the Internet that libraries desire. The authors of this report, therefore, expect that public libraries will modify and adapt the models and worksheet in this report to their particular situations. As such, this report is really a beginning point for a library's Internet initiative rather than a 'how-to' guide, and serves to assist public libraries in making the transition to the Internet.