How does New York State
Compare?
The
Facts About Statewide
Internet Libraries…
New York’s students, teachers, and
researchers need information to be successful in today’s information-driven
world. Today virtually all Research and
Development tools and many tools needed by K-12 students are now made available
only online. While general Internet search
engines like Google can be a good ‘first sort’ – unbiased information, full
text articles, and reliable resources are available only from proprietary,
licensed sources and only for a fee. While
we demand higher learning standards for students and top quality work from New York’s teachers and researchers, New York is falling behind other states in
providing access to these critical tools.
FACT:
New York State ranks 35th out of 50 states in providing
support for online information tools to its citizens statewide.
New York spends 13 cents per capita, while New
Jersey spends 94 cents, Alabama 90 cents,
Connecticut 55 cents , South Carolina 50 cents, Michigan 37 cents, Texas 26
cents and Ohio 24 cents and Illinois 23 cents. (National Center
for Education and Statistics: 2005)
FACT: New
York State
spends no State funds on statewide information tools.
Temporary federal
funds in the amount of $2.5 million support NOVELNY, the highly
successful pilot project for the New
York Statewide Internet Library. Over 5,000 libraries now participate in NOVELNY and use continues to
soar.
FACT:
State support for online information tools is an investment that results
in tremendous cost-savings for local libraries and local taxpayers.
Each $1 invested in
the NOVELNY pilot project would
cost a local library $30. New Yorkers
conducted over 25 million searches for full text articles using NOVELNY in 2007 that would
have otherwise cost local taxpayers over $85 million.
FACT: While New York’s college and academic
libraries traditionally ranked 1st in print subscriptions to
journals, they now rank 20th among states in offering electronic
indexes and reference tools and 35th in electronic journals and
full-text content.
New York’s students, universities, and
businesses are outgrowing NOVELNY in their needs for state-of-the-art,
reliable knowledge resources. New York’s institutions have already seen
top-tier researchers decline offers due to lack of access to vital online information
tools.
FACT: With ongoing
permanent State support, the NOVELNY pilot project would become a substantial
New York Statewide Internet Library
that could offer New Yorkers 24/7 cost-effective access to thousands of current
and brand-name commercial research tools, publications, magazines and
newspapers that are not freely available on the general Internet
Whether it’s from
their local library or from their desktops at home, work or school, with the New York Statewide Internet Library, all New Yorkers
will be in the KNOW!
Examples
of Other Statewide Internet Libraries
Alabama: http://www.avl.lib.org
The Alabama Virtual Library,
supports statewide access to electronic information for all of Alabama’s 4.5 million
residents with $3.5 million in State funds. “Through the AVL, an equitable core
of information sources is available to every student and citizen in Alabama, raising the
levels of excellence in schools and communities across the state.”
Georgia: http://andromeda.galib.uga.edu
In 2005, over 35 million searches and 10
million full text articles were used in GALILEO, Georgia’s virtual library. A survey of users that same year found 62% of
the respondents reported that GALILEO saved them time, and 85% stated it was a
valuable service which most would recommend to a friend.
Illinois:
http://www.finditillinois.org
Find-It! Illinois breaks
down the walls of bureaucracy, delivering information from library resources
and state government to the people of Illinois.
New Jersey: http://ww.njki.org
The $6 million, state-funded New Jersey
Knowledge Initiative program would have cost libraries $74.5 million if those
same resources were purchased individually. The NJKI program, a major component
of New Jersey’s
robust statewide virtual library, serves up “Information for Innovation” to
hundreds of corporations in the state, saving individual companies up to $500,000 a year in
subscription costs. All New Jersey
citizens have access to, and benefit from the resources of NJKI.
Ohio: http://www.oplin.org
and www.ohiolink.edu
For a look at how excitement and interest in
a state can be generated, visit Discover
Ohio. Only one of the information portals available to Ohio residents, Discover Ohio is complimented by the Ohio Public
Library Network and OhioLINK. In addition to a robust
suite of electronic resources supported by a combination of state and local
funds, the Digital
Media Center of OhioLINK provides Ohio schoolchildren and
public library cardholders access to 54,000 art and
architecture images and 39,700 historic Sanborn fire insurance maps.
Michigan: http://www.mel.org
The Michigan Electronic Library (MEL) is a
statewide catalog to find and borrow books and other materials; nearly 25,000
library-recommended websites; a collection of practice tests and home courses
leading to jobs; more than 40 subscription databases; and digital access to
valuable historic resources. Although Michigan’s
population is half the size of New
York’s, the program invests nearly twice the amount
of money spent on similar services. Schools, libraries, and institutions of
higher education save over $193 million each year in individual costs.
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