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====== 810xs | Evidence-based Practice Report ======

EBLIP Journal Link| https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/index

Book Link | https://www.amazon.com/Being-Evidence-Library-Information-Practice/dp/1783301198

Evaluation #5 – Evidence-based Practice Report (25 points)
Prepare a research-based report on a specific topic or question in library science. Using 7 – 10
research articles, review the literature to provide guidance on best practice for that particular
topic or question. Your topic must be approved by the instructor in advance. Further details will
be provided in Canvas.
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Prepare a research-based report on a specific topic or question in library science. Using 7 – 10 research articles, review the literature to provide guidance on best practice for that particular topic or question. Your topic must be approved by the instructor in advance.

 

The purpose of this assignment is for you to see if you can answer a question or determine what is currently best practice in a particular area of library and information science. You will already have chosen a topic, but you may find you either have to narrow your topic down, if there’s simply too much diffuse research out there, or you may have to broaden your topic if you can’t find at least seven good research articles for you to work with. (Note that it’s not just seven articles, it’s seven to ten good research articles.)

As you work through the evaluation assignments, you’ll get better at seeing straight away if there are problems with a particular research article. You may still want to use it, if it investigates what you’re really interested in, but you would note its limitations. Part of this exercise will also demonstrate the diffuse nature of library research.

Note also that good does not mean only quantitative or only qualitative. You may find excellent studies that inform different parts of your question. Be particularly aware of sequential research, or research that builds on previous research, as this may allow you to see the bigger picture you’re looking for.

Prepare your report just as if you were writing for a journal. Include a Title page, and then an Abstract page that summarizes what you’ve discovered. The abstract should be about 150 – 200 words and should have one or two sentences about the topic, one about your particular problem or area of interest, and one or two about what you found out – your conclusions, in other words.

The body of your report should include an Introduction and Overview of the problem. Introduce the problem to be studied, then discuss your research focus within the broader context of the problem and its relevance to library and information science. The last sentence in this subsection should reflect the significance of your research to the body of literature on the topic.

State your problem either as a hypothesis or research question. Include sub-problems where relevant. Provide operational definitions for important terms in the hypothesis/hypotheses or research question(s).

Next write a Method section, describing how you went about your search, and the criteria you used to include and exclude different studies, or how you narrowed the focus. Now include a Results section. You may find it useful to include a summary table something like this:

 

Study

(author(s) and date)

Hypothesis

Method

Analysis

Findings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now talk about each article in turn and give an overview. Watch the page limits, so you don’t write too much.

The Hypothesis – State the hypothesis/hypotheses or research question(s) addressed in the study.

Method – a) State the research method utilized in the study, such as survey, experimental, case study, Delphi study, ethnographic research. Note that opinion pieces and anecdotal reports are not research studies.  

b) Describe the sample – describe who or what was studied and the environment or locale in which the study was conducted. Also, provide the population and sample size(s) from the study.

c) Describe data collection – describe the technique(s), such as interviews or questionnaires, utilized to collect data. Also, describe the kind of data (quantitative, qualitative, or both) that have been collected to support the hypothesis/hypotheses or research question(s) in the study.

Analysis of data – Describe (at least in general terms) the method through which data have been analyzed. For a quantitative study, state the descriptive and/or inferential statistics that have been applied. For a qualitative study, state the method of analysis applied, such as content analysis in ethnographic research. 

Findings – Describe relevant findings from the studies.

Now include a Discussion and Conclusion section. This is where you will discuss the findings of the studies and what you have concluded is best practice. You may find that there is conflicting evidence about best practice, which is fine, but you must comment on this, and suggest reasons why this might be, or ways to investigate further. Make sure you include a Reference page at the end.

The body of your paper should be no more than 7-8 pages long (not counting your title page, the abstract, and, of course, your reference page.
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From Rural Broadband Access to Digital Inclusion: 
The Co-evolution of Technology and Best Practice
Brian S. Whitmer
Emporia State University

Abstract
The deployment of disruptive networked computing infrastructure in the Unites States has changed the mission of the public library and created new forms of literacy that centered around the new affordances this deployment makes possible. Research in this changing context has co-evolved with the changing affordances of each new wave of technological advance and consequently, research conceptions in this domain have had to evolve to stay relevant and meaningful. The rural public library offers a meaningful lens to view this co-evolution of networked computing infrastructure, public library mission, and research scope. By examining the selected research diachronically, this co-evolution can be demonstrated.
Keywords:  digital inclusion, rural public library, digital literacy, digital divide
 
Introduction and Overview
Beginning in the 1990s, the United States has experienced the disruptive effects of the deployment of networked computing infrastructure including the World Wide Web, Wireless cellphones networks, Wi-Fi, and satellite networks all with constant improvements in bandwidth, availability and speed; an evolving range of devices that can access these networks – laptops, digital cameras, tablets, smart phone, smart speakers, robots, augmented reality headsets, automobile GPS, networked sensors, and many more esoteric technologies; rapidly evolving software programs, apps, cloud computing resources, more powerful algorithms, and increasingly natural language processing/big data-driven artificial intelligence engines; and new output formats and devices including laser printers, 3-D printers, audio-visual products, digital books, digital documents, games and simulations. Each of these developments enables new affordances and create in their wake new literacy demands to learn, work with, use, and benefit from these new affordances. But as the quote attributed to novelist William Gibson has it, “The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.” One of the places where the future hasn’t penetrated deeply are the communities of rural America. Over the last 20+ years, there has been a concerted effort on the part of the federal government to accelerate the “distribution of the future” to rural America through the intervention of providing broadband connectivity. And one of the primary public anchor institutions that was targeted to deploy broadband access was the public library. This has had the unintended consequence of altering the focus of the public libraries mission from being primarily an information-entertainment lending/collection resource, to increasingly being the hub for a variety of forms of digital literacy. This is especially the case for rural libraries because of the unique constraints they face – a less affluent, less educated, demographically older-skewing population that is sparsely spread out across large geographic boundaries that are less economically diversified and more expensive to develop. For a significant percentage of these communities, the public library is the only source of free public broadband access available as well as being the primary resource for many of the population segments to get exposure and training in the various digital literacies that are increasingly mandatory for accessing governmental, employment, social, and information resources. By using the rural public library as a focus, a diachronic analysis of the selected research literature should demonstrate the changing conceptual framing of the research related to the co-evolution of networked computing infrastructure and the changing role of the public library. The Digital Divide is a measure of the relative availability of broadband access in a targeted population compared to the population with the most availability of broadband access. Digital Literacy is a broadly constructed domain of behaviors which share the common constraint that a networked computing device (desktop, laptop, terminal, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, etc) is central to the interaction. From this common starting foundation, Digital Literacy branches into different lineages of behaviors based on the software being used and the goal(s) to be achieved using the software. Digital Inclusion is a measure of the relative digital divide and digital literacy rates within a targeted population in comparison with the population that is currently most inclusive.

Method
To find a topic that was both interesting and of sufficient scope for this report, I brainstormed using one of my textbooks which is an overview of the full domain of library-related topics. By chance, I got interested in the section dealing with the deployment of broadband internet access and the role the public library had played. I narrowed my focus to the rural public library and skimmed the section in the textbook covering rural libraries. I then read a few online resources covering rural libraries and with the knowledge gained performed many targeted keyword searches using library science focused research databases including LISTA, Library & Information Science Source, and Library Literature & Information Science. I downloaded articles I thought would be relevant, skimmed through their contents and selected a collection of articles I thought would be most helpful and relevant. 
Article Overviews
Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the Internet in rural America examines the factors that have led to and maintained the adoption gap in rural communities compared to urban communities. The authors’ hypothesis is that using a model based on diffusion of innovation coupled with social-cognitive theory will provide more nuanced measures of the critical factors accounting for the adoption gap and use path analysis to show to path connection strengths of their model. To collect data for their research, the authors used a mail survey “completed by 1582 heads of household residing in four rural counties in Kentucky, Michigan, and Texas” (p. 364). Random sampling was used to obtain the survey data. “Person product-moment correlations were calculated using SPSS, Inc. (2005) version 14.0” (p. 366) The authors found that “prior experience with the internet, the expected outcomes of broadband usage, direct personal experience with broadband, and self-efficacy had direct effects on broadband intentions. Age and income, but not education or ethnicity, also had direct impacts” (p. 359). This research confirms the continuing importance of the public as a keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among Members of the “Net Generation”  examines via a survey of college, the belief that digital natives are equally digitally literate because the have grown up surrounded by digital media. The authors hypothesize that this is an unwarranted and empirically unsupported common-wisdom expectation and this can lead to policy assumptions that “once people go online issues of inequality are no longer a concern” (p. 92).  The researchers used a paper-pencil survey which was administered to “the entire first-year college class of an urban public research university that is not the flagship of the state’s university system” (p. 97). “bivariate analyses of the data” and OLS (ordinary least square regression was used to analyze the data. The authors found that “socioeconomic status to be an important predictor of how people are incorporating the web into their everyday lives with those from more privileged backgrounds using it in more informed ways for a larger number of activities” (p. 92).
Broadband for public libraries: Importance, issues, and research needs examines via the 2008-2009 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) survey the current state of broadband related topics concerning public libraries and uses this data to assess the current mission of the public library and make recommendations for public policy interventions. The authors’ hypothesize that public libraries will not be able to meet public demand for broadband internet access without changes in the amount of funds contributed to library budgets. The sample consisted of a stratified, proportionate sample of 6,111 public libraries from a population of 16,620 libraries. Statistical analysis was performed on the survey data. The authors found that “71.4% of U.S. public libraries report that they are the only provider of free public access in a community” (p. 282) and that “government data collection efforts have been at aggregated rather than granular levels, impeding the ability to understand fully the impact that relatively short geographical distances can have on differences in broadband service availability and quality” (p. 283). This research confirms the continuing importance of the public library as a keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Rural Anchor Institution Broadband Connectivity: Enablers and Barriers to Adoption examines two rural anchor institutions in rural Florida using surveys, focus groups, and onsite diagnostics to measure the broadband capacity of the two institutions. The authors hypothesize that broadband adoption by rural anchor institutions is impacted by situational factors – some enabling, some acting as barriers. The survey used the entire population of anchor institutions in the selected rural Florida areas because of the relatively small size of the populations (p. 138). Survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics via SPSS, Excel, and GIS mapping (p.138). 10 focus groups (5 for each project) were conducted and thematic content analysis was used to “uncover common themes arising from the discussions” (p. 139) and onsite diagnostics and broadband connectivity assessments were conducted with reports being generated and then common themes were uncovered using thematic analysis. The authors found access barriers in the connection capacity of the interior workstations, staff familiarity with broadband topics and applications, and level of training achieved by staff and users (p. 139). The authors recommend that multiple institutional rural stakeholders need to work together on broadband issues to improve community adoption. This research confirms the continuing importance of the public library as a keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Public Libraries in the New Economy: Twenty-First-Century Skills, the Internet, and Community Needs examines via the 2011-2012 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) survey, public and school library site visits, and web research the current state of broadband related topics concerning public libraries and uses this data to assess the current mission of the public library and make recommendations for public policy interventions. The authors hypothesize that the public library demonstrated even more importance in the wake the Great Recession and demonstrated amplified use by patrons for broadband-based services. The multi-approached sampling survey consisted of 8,790 libraries from a population of 16,776 libraries and weighted analysis was used to analyze the data. The authors found the library was a primary source for patrons to meet digital literacy needs with services like job search help, computer literacy classes, internet literacy classes and business startup workshops. The authors recommend public library stakeholders provide better advocacy for their expanding role and need to find ways to direct more government funds to support this expanded role. This research confirms the continuing importance of the public as the keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States is a survey of small and rural libraries and addresses the lack of a nuanced, granular survey of the categories of rural libraries and the unique constraints that are common to each rural library classification. The data for the analysis was drawn from the Public Library Survey (PLS) from fiscal years 2008 through 2011. The population consisted of 8,956 U.S. public libraries and the entire population was used for the statistical analysis of the data. The authors identified three categories of rural libraries – fringe, distant, and remote based on geographic factors defined in U.S. census data. They also defined another category of small libraries which were segmented based on population size, 10 to 25k, 2.5 to 10k, and less than 2.5k people in the libraries legal service area. The study identified 4,109 rural U.S. libraries serving thirty-seven million Americans. This research confirms the continuing importance of the public as the keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Rural Public Libraries and Digital Inclusion: Issues and Challenges examines via the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) 2012 survey and data from smaller studies, the current state of broadband related topics concerning rural public libraries and uses this data to assess the current mission of the public library and make recommendations for public policy interventions. The authors hypothesize that rural public libraries will not be able to meet public demand for broadband internet access without changes in the amount of funds contributed to library budgets. The population consisted of 8,790 outlets stratified and proportionate by state and metropolitan status state (p. 8) and use statistical analysis to examine the survey data. The authors found a number of factors that contributed to rural libraries being less digitally inclusive than urban/suburban libraries including lack of MLS staff, lower operating budgets, lack of training, and lack of advocacy time and resources. This research confirms the continuing importance of the public as the keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Long Distance Relationships: Assessing the Library Service Needs of Rural Students in eLearning Courses examines via a survey best practices for eLearning of rural Alaskan distance learners. The authors constructed the survey to see assess the library service needs of rural students in eLearning courses. The population consisted of “UAA students, 18 years of age or older, who were taking at least one 0% location-based eLearning course during the 2015 fall semester, as identified by the University Registrar” (p. 143). 695 responses were received out of 4,664 surveys invites that were sent out. The surveys contained 30 questions (both quantitative and qualitative (open-ended questions)). The authors could identify strengths and weakness of current practice and plan for targeted interventions to address their shortcomings. An example of the survey was included in the research report. This research explores the role of the academic library in the life of rural distance students and can be used to guide further research for exploring the role of the rural public library for remote students.
Public Libraries building Digital Inclusive Communities: Data and Findings from the 2013 Digital Inclusion Survey examines the current state of digital inclusion related topics concerning public libraries and uses this data to assess the current mission of the public library and make recommendations for public policy interventions to enhance digital inclusion. The authors explore the ways digital inclusion is promoted by public libraries. “The Digital Inclusion Survey is a revision and update to the PLFTAS nation surveys which had their origin in the 1994 Public Libraries and the Internet survey series” (p. 271) The sample consisted of 4,480 samples drawn from a population of 16,715 library branches in the United States. Weighted analysis was employed “to generate national and state data estimates” (p. 273). The authors found that the survey data “demonstrate that public libraries are an important force in the community for bridging the digital divide and promoting digital literacy” (p. 274). This research confirms the continuing importance of the public as the keystone institution for improving levels of digital inclusion in rural communities.
Discussion and Conclusion
As the affordances of the networked computing infrastructure have evolved and changed the role of the public library, it seems evident that there has been an ampliation (“adding to that which is already known”) of the conceptual framing of the research going from the early concept of the “digital divide” to the more nuanced “digital literacy” to the current framework of “digital inclusion.” The research covers a publication range of ten years and a problem scope range of 20+ years. Digital inclusion is a more nuanced and targeted conceptual description that has become the preferred research term to encompass the earlier concepts of the digital divide and digital literacy and places them both in a conjoined conceptual framework that offers better explanatory range and ties the two together in fruitful ways for future research projects. Therefore, using the conceptual framework of “digital inclusion” has become the new best practice conceptual framework for working with networked computing infrastructure and it has achieved this role by co-evolving with the changing role of the library and the evolving affordances of networked computing technology. If we conceive of these things in terms of an ecosystem we could model the energy/information flows between the various parts and use the concept of digital inclusion to be the most inclusive (currently) description of the system. Having a system model of these various affordances will allow the formulation of targeted interventions that can tune the system into configurations that provide the most optimal outcomes and functioning for the lowest intervention cost as measured in terms of funding, management, and resource deployment.

References
Bertot, J. C., Real, B. & Jaeger, P. T. (2016). Public libraries building digital inclusive communities: Data and findings from the 2013 digital inclusion survey. Library Quarterly, 86(3), 270-289.
Hargittai, E. (2010). Digital na(t)ives? variation in internet skills and uses among members of the “net generation”. Sociological Inquiry, 80(1), 92-113. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00317.x
LaRose, R., Gregg, J. L., Strover., S. Staubhaar, J., & Carpenter, S. (2007). Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the internet in rural America. Telecommunications Policy, 31(6), 359-373. doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2007.04.004
Mandel, L. H., Bishop, B. W., McClure, C. R., Bertot, J. C. & Jaeger, P. T. (2010). Broadband for public libraries: Importance, issues, and research needs. Government Information Quarterly, 27(3), 280-291. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.02.004
Mandel L. H., Alemanne, N. D., & McClure, C. R. (2012, February 7-10). Rural anchor institution broadband connectivity: Enablers and barriers to adoption. iConference 2012: Culture, Design, Society. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (pp. 136-144). doi:10.1145/2132176.2132194
Real, B., Bertot, J. C., & Jaeger, P. T. (2014). Rural public libraries and digital inclusion: Issues and challenges. Information Technology & Libraries, 33(1), 6-24.
Sterling, L., McKay, J. & Ericson, C. (2016). Long distance relationships: Assessing the library service needs of rural students in eLearning courses. Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, 11(1-2), 140-157. doi:10.1080/1533290X.2016.1229425
Swan, D., Grimes, J., & Owens, T. (2013). The state of small and rural libraries in the United States (Institute of Museum and Library Services research brief, no. 5). Washington, D.C.: Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Taylor, N. G., Jaeger, P. T., McDermott, A. J., Kodama, C. M., & Bertot, J. C. (2012). Public libraries in the new economy: Twenty-first-century skills, the internet, and community needs. Public Library Quarterly, 31(3), 191-219.
 
Table 1
Research Summary
Study	Hypothesis	Method	Analysis	Findings
La Rose et. al, 2007	Applying a diffusion of innovation model coupled with social-cognitive theories will better highlight the factors affecting the broadband adoption gap in rural America.	Survey, random sample	Pearson product-moment correlations calculated using SPSS, Inc. (2005) version 14.0	Direct personal experience of the internet is a precondition of broadband adoption; public access should be supplemented with policies that promote broadband access in rural businesses
Hargittai, 2010	Assuming a universal level of digital literacy is achieved among digital natives by merely having online access is empirically unsupported and can lead to poor policy choices.	Survey	Bivariate analysis, Ordinary least square regression	Findings do support the premise that young adults are universally knowledgeable about the web
Mandel et. al, 2010	Data from the PLFTAS study can illuminate the current mission of the library and the challenges it faces in promoting digital literacy	Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) 2008-2009 Survey	Statistical analysis of surveys	Public libraries need to demonstrate more clearly and frequently to other stakeholders their roles as hubs for digital inclusion
Mandel et. al., 2012	Adoption of broadband by rural anchor institutions can be improved by understanding the barriers and enablers to adoption	Survey, focus group, onsite diagnostics	Descriptive statistics, thematic content analysis, diagnostic reports	Training and awareness communication along with multi-stakeholder planning, development, implementation, and assessment would accelerate adoption of broadband in rural communities
Taylor et. al, 2012	Data from the PLFTAS study can illuminate the current mission of the library and the challenges it faces in promoting digital literacy	Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) 2011-2012 Survey, site visits, web research,	Statistical analysis of survey, qualitative reporting from site visits	Fund libraries more during economic downturns, treat libraries as part of the larger economic development and employment infrastructure, recognize libraries as part of the education infrastructure, ensure libraries have high-quality and sufficient public-access technologies, broadband and materials
Swan et. al, 2013	Studying rural libraries with sufficient granularity of focus can help better targeting of resource deployment for interventions	Public Libraries Survey from fiscal years 2008 - 2011	Statistical analysis of survey data	The broad distribution across the country demonstrates rural libraries are valued local institutions and serve a strategic role in extending public services
Real et al. 2014	Rural libraries cannot reach their full potential because of staffing issues and inadequate funding mechanisms	Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (PLFTAS) 2012 Survey, and previous year PLFTAS studies	Statistical analysis of survey data	Rural public library stakeholders need gather better data and be better advocates to lobby government decision makers about continuing needs for promoting digital inclusion policies
Sterling et al. 2017	Best practices for eLearning for rural students can be discovered using a case study of rural Alaska distance learners	Survey	Qualitative data analysis with comparison of results to the Standards for Distance Learning Library Services and the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.	Researchers were able to identify strengths and weakness of current practice and plan for targeted interventions to address their shortcomings
Bertot et al. 2017	Data from the Digital Inclusion Study can illuminate the current mission of the library and the challenges it faces in promoting digital inclusion	Digital Inclusion Survey 2013 (this supersedes the PLFTAS survey)	Statistical analysis of survey data	Because the role of public libraries is vital for promoting digital inclusion, more government funding needs to be provided to adequately cover the library budgets



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