VECCIA described the evaluation project before talking about the public
users of AM, limiting her remarks to public libraries, because FREEMAN
would talk more specifically about schools from kindergarten to twelfth
grade (K-12). Having started in spring 1991, the evaluation currently
involves testing of the Macintosh implementation of AM. Since the
primary goal of this evaluation is to determine the most appropriate
audience or audiences for AM, very different sites were selected. This
makes evaluation difficult because of the varying degrees of technology
literacy among the sites. AM is situated in forty-four locations, of
which six are public libraries and sixteen are schools. Represented
among the schools are elementary, junior high, and high schools.
District offices also are involved in the evaluation, which will
conclude in summer 1993.
VECCIA focused the remainder of her talk on the six public libraries, one
of which doubles as a state library. They represent a range of
geographic areas and a range of demographic characteristics. For
example, three are located in urban settings, two in rural settings, and
one in a suburban setting. A range of technical expertise is to be found
among these facilities as well. For example, one is an "Apple library of
the future," while two others are rural one-room libraries--in one, AM
sits at the front desk next to a tractor manual.
All public libraries have been extremely enthusiastic, supportive, and
appreciative of the work that AM has been doing. VECCIA characterized
various users: Most users in public libraries describe themselves as
general readers; of the students who use AM in the public libraries,
those in fourth grade and above seem most interested. Public libraries
in rural sites tend to attract retired people, who have been highly
receptive to AM. Users tend to fall into two additional categories:
people interested in the content and historical connotations of these
primary resources, and those fascinated by the technology. The format
receiving the most comments has been motion pictures. The adult users in
public libraries are more comfortable with IBM computers, whereas young
people seem comfortable with either IBM or Macintosh, although most of
them seem to come from a Macintosh background. This same tendency is
found in the schools.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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