Technology in Public Libraries: Results from PLA’s 2023 Annual Survey

Learn about the recently released results from the 2023 Public Library Technology Survey, which include key information on technology capacity, resources for patrons, infrastructure, digital literacy, and staffing in U.S. public libraries. The results address questions such as: How are libraries advancing digital equity in their communities? What types of technology devices do libraries loan to patrons, and are more or fewer libraries offering these items compared to in 2020? What are the primary challenges libraries face in providing technology resources and services?

The powerful, actionable evidence from the Technology Survey supports planning and advocacy at the local, state, and national level. In this free webinar, presenters will share how your library can use the survey report and PLA’s data tools to understand and improve your library's performance, demonstrate value, and increase impact in your community.

PLA members make it possible for us to provide continuing education opportunities like this webinar at no cost. We thank our members for their continuous dedication to the advancement of the public library field and our association.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this free webinar, participants will be able to:

• Identify current trends in technology infrastructure, capacity, resources, and the digital equity work in public libraries;
• Explore survey results and develop potential next steps; and
• Use Benchmark visualizations and participate in future PLA surveys.

Who Should Attend

This free webinar is intended for all public library staff, but it may be of particular interest to directors and administrators.

Panelists

Jerianne Thompson (she/her) is director of the Tualatin Public Library, part of the Washington County Cooperative Library Services in Oregon. She has worked in public libraries for more than twenty years and serves as co-chair of PLA’s Measurement, Evaluation, and Assessment Advisory Group.

Sara Goek (she/her) is project manager, data and research, at ACRL and PLA. She is responsible for supporting the divisions’ data and research efforts and developing related training content.

Katina Jones (she/her) is PLA’s program manager for evaluation and assessment. She supports Project Outcome, Benchmark, PLA's annual topical surveys, and other data and evaluation work.

Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer (VoIP) or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.