Croydon Online: the public library at the heart of community networking
| Published date | 01 January 1999 |
| Date | 01 January 1999 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040707 |
| Pages | 19-24 |
| Author | Juliet Eve |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Croydon Online: the
public library at the
heart of community
networking1
by Juliet Eve, Research Fellow at
CERLIM formerly at Croydon Online
Community Network
This article traces the development
of the
Croydon Online Community
Network,
and
gives examples
of
the innovative services
which have been developed as
a
result of
successful local
partnerships.
It also provides
an
overview
of
the results
of
recent research
investigating the benfits
of
the network for the
local
community.
Introduction
A brief glance at the EARL Website, with its links
to public library Web pages, gives an idea of how
many public libraries have developed their own
Web pages within the last few years. The range of
information and services available on these pages
is considerable, from basic information about
opening hours and library locations, to access to
the library catalogue and community information.
Some of the elements which make Croydon Online
stand out from many other sites are highlighted in
this article, namely the early articulation of
a
vision to be a community resource and network,
the development of partnerships within the bor-
ough which have enabled the extension of content
and services, and the ability to have an ongoing
evaluation of the network over an 18 month period.
History of the network
developments
Croydon began its voyage into Internet territory in
1994,
with a research grant from the then British
Library Research and Development Department, to
investigate the potential benefits of providing
Internet access in a public library. The CLIP
(Croydon Libraries Internet Project) ran from
September 1994 to March 1996, its main objec-
tives being:
To assess the value of the Internet as an
additional information service provided by
public libraries.
• To identify the benefits of providing public
access to the Internet.
• To consider models of connection and
networking in public libraries.
The results of the access experiments conducted
during the project (with three user groups: library
staff,
adult users and children) suggested that all
these users could benefit significantly from the
information available on the Internet, that it was
relatively easy for them to get going and find
information, and that other services, such as
e-mail
lists,
can be very beneficial for research. The
results from CLIP also suggested that public
libraries would benefit from using the Internet,
developing their own services using electronic
networking, and could successfully venture into
electronic publishing. As a direct result of the
success of the CLIP project, the homepage for the
project was developed into Croydon Online, the
beginnings of
a
community information site.
The first 'incarnation' of Croydon Online con-
sisted of
a
main index page, with links to council,
business and entertainment information for Croy-
don, and was launched at the end of the CLIP
project in March 1996. In the summer of 1996 the
early vision for Croydon Online was refined and a
non-technical list of requirements for a new site
was put together. Three local Website design
companies were invited to quote for building a
Croydon Online which would begin to fulfill its
vision. During the remainder of the year, library
staff worked with the selected company to plan the
structure of the site and its interactive facilities; in
parallel with developing the content and gathering
new data. Some Visual Basic programming was
carried out to convert two existing databases, the
Community Information Database and the Elec-
tronic Business Register (EBR), which was at the
time available via the CD-Rom network, to make
them easily searchable over a Website, and a new
accommodation database was developed with the
Tourist Information Centre. Towards the end of
1996,
the server was replaced with NT servers, and
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