A group of SLIS faculty, alumni and students associated with the Information Policy and Use Management Institute at the College of Communication & Information are contributors to a new book, Public Libraries and the Internet: Roles, Perspectives, and Implications, published by Libraries Unlimited.

Dr. Charles R. McClure, director of the Information Institute and Francis Eppes Professor at SLIS, is an editor of the book and a co-author of three chapters. McClure said that the book provides an up-to-date and wide-ranging discussion of the transformation of public libraries as a result of the Internet. “The range of services and resources public libraries provide through the Internet is astounding,” he noted.

Chapters written by Institute staff members report on research completed at the Information Institute on describing the roles of public libraries in hurricane preparedness and response, in assessing Florida public library broadband, and in identifying and discussing future issues that will affect the long term health and development of public libraries in the United States.

Current Institute staff members Lauren H. Mandel, Research Coordinator, and John Brobst, Research Associate, co-authored a number of chapters in the book along with former Institute staff members John T. Snead (currently on faculty at the University of Oklahoma), Bradley Wade Bishop (currently on faculty at the University of Kentucky) and Charles C. Hinnant (faculty, SLIS at the Florida State University).

Additional information about the book can be found at: http://lu.com/showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591587767.