Recognizing the important impact of networked infrastructure developments on library and information services, the Commission's law was changed in 1991 to allow NCLIS to promote research and development activities to "...extend and improve the Nation's library and information handling capability as essential links in national and international communications and cooperative networks" (P.L. 102-95).

Recent advances in communications and network technology raise concerns about library roles in the future. To support planning, decision-making, and investment choices related to networks, library leaders and managers must have specific information to make informed choices. Also needed are new instruments to help librarians successfully navigate the challenges of an emerging networked information infrastructure. The library community requires new tools to provide the public with access to the advantages of advanced network technologies.

This report addresses the public library community's need for practical cost information related to Internet connectivity and services. The realization of the need for a preliminary study of Internet costs for public libraries results from the Commission's review of the findings reported in Public Libraries and the Internet: Study Results, Policy Issues, and Recommendations, published by NCLIS in June, 1994. While this study found 20.9% of U.S. public libraries were involved with the Internet, respondents reported difficulty in identifying and describing specific Internet costs. Public librarians highlighted the critical need for reliable cost information to assist with Internet connectivity planning and in developing networked library services for the public.

This report, Internet Costs and Cost Models for Public Libraries, is not a "how-to" manual for connecting public libraries to the Internet. The value of this study rests more with the development of cost models, worksheets, and cost categories that can assist public libraries determine an appropriate type of Internet connectivity and service provision given the library's need. The study seeks to improve the knowledge base of information, not to offer a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Representative costs, however, included in this report illustrate significant variations involved in planning public library Internet connectivity and services. The networking permutations and configurations available to public libraries offer a complex array of choices.

The models developed in this study present possible alternatives for consideration at the institutional level. Because local circumstances, choices, and alternatives for Internet access and services vary significantly, the cost elements, categories, and models presented in this report provide illustrative examples, not implementation instructions. The wide variation in representative costs associated with public library Internet connectivity indicate the need for this type of preliminary study. But, because there is every indication that these variations and options will increase in the future, additional studies of this type are essential.

The Commission's examination of Internet costs for public libraries is based on the belief that these community information centers will comprise an essential component of the National Information Infrastructure in the future. The work that Dr. Charles R. McClure has done in preparing this study, along with his excellent work in directing the Commission's earlier survey of public libraries and the Internet, provides a valuable contribution to NCLIS and to the U.S. public library community. The Commission also commends the work of researchers John Carlo Bertot and John C. Beachboard for their work on this cost study.

With this report, the Commission offers a means to help librarians realize the vision of universal service that will allow all Americans to take advantage of access to the Internet, involvement with networked-based information services, and move into the global information infrastructure.