"Impact of Internet on LIbrary Use" by D'Elia

First, this article was so extensive, it was much more scientific and more like a social sciences report than the other survey that we read about. I really liked that there was a real effort to figure out what libraries do well compared to internet and computers as far as both being venues of information. But there were a few things that I had a problem with. While for every table of options either for libraries and the internet was extensive, there was not ever a place for the person being surveyed to volunteer their own reasons why they either use the library or the internet. If this survey were really about the person responding, why were their answers tailored in a way that the people calculating the responses would only hear a certain kind of answer? It was not a problem of having too many responses from those surveyed, because there were more than ten options on every table. So why not let someone volunteer answers? That did not make any sense. Also, I thought some of their conclusions were not really honest about the problems of the library. The dire numbers about library use and those who prefer the library were not taken as seriously as I thought they should have been. One of the conclusions was that computers and libraries are complementary-but how can that be when the people who designed the study designed the two options to be competitive for the same qualities or services in their questions? One recommendation was to not do anything proactive about the problem of computers, but rather monitor the situation. Really? I was struck by this consoling and less honest advice about what librarians should do. Librarians don’t need another study conclusion telling them to be complacent, they need to be roused and driven to be proactive.