Offline Americans see Internet of Little Value

Sometimes bridging the digital divide means getting it through to people why getting a computer and having internet access is important. As we talk about library 2.0 and other technology concepts, we still have a large amount of the population who don't want to use it. Think about the population at large who are now being forced to use computers and the internet to do essential tasks like applying for a job, attempting to get benefits, or unemployment. Then look at this:

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Offline Americans see Internet of Little Value
"Twenty-nine percent of all U.S. households (31 million homes) do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months, according to Parks Associates’ National Technology Scan."

So when this population is forced into computers, where do you think their first stop will be? The public library is the catchall for the population that is being forced into the unknown. I wish that we could see some national intiatives providing public libraries with money to deal with this. We need technology and staff just to deal with business and governmental trends pushing their citizens towards online self-service.