The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world. The Pew Internet Project explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project is nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues. Support for the Project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. More information is available at pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/internet.

Advisors for this research

A number of experts have helped Pew Internet in this research effort:

Larra Clark, American Library Association, Office for Information Technology Policy Mike Crandall, Professor, Information School, University of Washington Allison Davis, Senior Vice President, GMMB Catherine De Rosa, Vice President, OCLC LaToya Devezin, American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and librarian, Louisiana Amy Eshelman, Program Leader for Education, Urban Libraries Council Sarah Houghton, Director, San Rafael Public Library, California Mimi Ito, Research Director of Digital Media and Learning Hub, University of California Humanities Research Institute Patrick Losinski, Chief Executive Officer, Columbus Library, Ohio Jo McGill, Director, Northern Territory Library, Australia Dwight McInvaill, Director, Georgetown County Library, South Carolina Bobbi Newman, Blogger, Librarian By Day Carlos Manjarrez, Director, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Institute of Museum and Library Services Johana E. Orellana-Cabrera, American Library Association Spectrum Scholar and librarian at City of Irvine (CA) Public Libraries Mayur Patel, Vice President for Strategy and Assessment, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Sharman Smith, Executive Director, Mississippi Library Commission Michael Kelley, Editor in Chief, Library Journal

Disclaimer from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

This report is based on research funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.