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With over 17,000 libraries and 2.5 billion materials circulated annually in the United States alone, libraries are a ubiquitous part of the American landscape. However, as libraries modernize, they face an increasingly harsh budget environment, as well as technological disruption in media, scholarship, and education. The political, social and technological environment is one of transformation and uncertainty. As of 2004, U.S. library usage was experiencing growth in spite of predictions to the contrary at that time. Instead, the impact of technology on libraries has been mixed. While usage of some library services, such as reference assistance, has declined, there has been a well-documented increase in the usage of public libraries in the U.S. and Canada over the last decade. Most libraries have added services such as public computers, free wifi, and digital materials such as web sites and e-books, leading to higher overall usage of the library. Counties and cities also continue to invest in library infrastructure. , library construction and renovation has remained steady. According to a 2013 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 54% of Americans ages 16 and older have used a public library in some way in the past 12 months. A similar poll of Britons, conducted in 2010, stated that 67% had visited a library within the last year. Public libraries remain very popular among all users, and , younger patrons read and use the library at the same rate as older ones.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/millennials-read-and-use-libraries-as-much-as-their-parents/ )〕 Over 94% of Americans say that “having a public library improves the quality of life in a community.” At the same time, public funding of libraries has declined precipitously.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.ala.org/news/news/pressreleases2009/february2009/orscosla )〕 While libraries have a positive reputation, is unclear that citizens prioritize libraries over other government services when budgets must be cut. School and academic libraries have also faced both severe budget troubles and declining usage of traditional library services like reference and interlibrary loan. Mass defunding and closures of publicly funded libraries in the Canada and UK have begun to affect the availability of library services in those countries. Library functions, services and usage are changing so rapidly that it is difficult to establish standards or measures of value. As these trends continue or accelerate, the status of libraries is likely to remain dynamic and unclear. ==Academic libraries== College and university libraries are at the center of changes to the library system. Academic libraries must serve groups of users with diverse information needs and research skills. In addition to the structural challenges facing all libraries, academic libraries must also confront a rapidly changing educational and publishing environment, in which the value and cost of a university education is being questioned. A higher demand for accountability means academic libraries must prove their value and the value of the university system. Several institutions have attempted to assess the impact of academic libraries on student success but have often struggled with patron privacy concerns. The University of Minnesota recently published results of a major study on the impact of library use on student success. The study found that there are statistically relevant data showing first-year undergraduate students who use the library have a higher GPA for their first semester and higher retention from fall to spring than non-library users.〔http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/143312〕 A decline in the usage of traditional library services at the university level suggests that students are looking elsewhere for information resources. A 2005 report from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) stated that between 1995-2004, reference requests dropped an average 4.5% per year, and book checkouts fell 1.2% per year, though this varied depending on the type of academic library. Master's level libraries saw an increase in research inquires during the same period.〔 The ARL also documented a decline in reference requests and borrowing between libraries from 2009-2011.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://arl.nonprofitsoapbox.com/storage/documents/supply-demand.pdf )〕 In 2007, regarding the issue, University of Illinois’ Graduate School of Library and Information Science professor Jerome McDonough observed that in terms of undergraduate usage, “We're losing clientele; students may come in the library to study, to socialize, to hit the newly installed cafe designed to lure them in, but they're not using library materials, or library services, at anything like the rate they did even ten years ago.”〔(“If libraries had shareholders” ), SFweekly.com, 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2009-10-18.〕 The increasing costs of access to academic journals, and the speed with which information resources are growing, suggests that academic libraries will not be able to maintain a traditional lending and accession model for much longer. Academic libraries are exploring a new model for service delivery, known as "digital commons" and/or "scholars' commons," that focuses on access, information quality and information literacy as opposed to collecting a large number of print books and journals.〔 Many campus libraries have remodeled their physical facilities in order to attract students, adding computers, cafes, classrooms, outlets and study areas.〔Carlson, Scott. (“As Students Work Online, Reading Rooms Empty Out -- Leading Some Campuses to Add Starbucks” ), The Chronicle of Higher Education, 16 November 2001. Retrieved 2009-12-13.〕 Many libraries are considering offering publishing services to academics under an open access model.〔 The growing demand for publishing services suggests new roles and responsibilities for academic libraries in the near future. The establishment or reestablishment of academic and university presses may offer a new economic model for academic libraries. A 2011 survey of member institutions of ARL, the Oberlin Group and the University Libraries Group found that approximately half of the respondents had or were developing library publishing services. Copyright issues and technological limitations imposed by digital rights management are the strongest barriers to this transformation.〔 With changes on the horizon, the organizations that monitor academic library statistics are seeking new ways to assess value and impact. The Association of Research Libraries will no longer use monograph and serial costs as a metric, since "new data will be collected to more accurately reflect the modern environment of information management."〔 While more statistical information is needed to assess the value of academic libraries, the speed of change has made it more difficult to establish metrics. A future in which circulation statistics and "gate counts" are only a partial measure of library usage is already here. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trends in library usage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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