A friendly reminder that the 2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Survey (sometimes called the Plinter survey)  funded by the American Library Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will now close on November 14 for  library participation.  Libraries participating in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Opportunity Online Hardware Grant Program are required to participate in the survey, but all Vermont public libraries are encouraged to submit data.  The survey will close on November 14, so, although you still have time, please be sure to complete it.  So far we have about 18% participation.

The survey portal is http://www.plinternetsurvey.org . The login you use for this survey is the same as the one you use for the Annual Public Library Report and Standards Application.  It will look something like VT0XXX.  Once you are at the website, you can get FAQs and other support, and then complete the survey.  You can download PDF versions of the survey from the survey website if you want to see the questions before starting the Web survey.

This website is also where you will find 4 issue briefs on Broadband, Community Access, E-government, and Employment as well as one-page state summaries for Employment and E-government (minus the 4 states didn’t have a high enough response rate in the 2009 survey cycle).

The goal of the project is to be able to analyze data for all 50 states plus DC. Last year, 45 states, including Vermont, and the District of Columbia participated. Results from these annual surveys have been used to inform the Broadband Stimulus debates, library assistance with jobs, and library assistance with e-government.

Thank you all for your good work.

Rob Geiszler
Library Development Consultant
Vermont Department of Libraries
271 North Main Street
Rutland, VT 05701
rob.geiszler@state.vt.us