Justification Part A

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

All methods adhere to the Office of Management and Budget’s Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys (September 2006).

A. Justification

1. Why Collection of Information is Necessary? (from ‘Current Actions’ in Federal Registrar notice)

The core duties of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as stated in its strategic plan, are to promote excellence in library services and to promote access to museum and library services for a diverse public. The E-Government Act of 2002 called for the promotion of access to the Internet to provide increased opportunities for citizen participation in government, and an interagency committee issued a report looking at disparities in Internet access across a demographic spectrum. Few studies, however, have looked at the kinds of assistance (training, tutorials, classes, reference services) that users are receiving when looking for federal, state, and local government information and services, whether via the Internet or through traditional means (walk-in, mail, telephone), and whether users are satisfied with the assistance that they are receiving from public libraries and public access computing centers. In order to address this critical information gap and to enhance the quality of library services nationwide, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has undertaken a study to better understand how users are accessing federal, state, and local government information and services and what kinds of assistance public libraries and other public access computing centers are offering to users seeking government information and services. IMLS is conducting a research study on how the part of the population with limited access to Internet resources (individuals who do not have broadband access from home, work, or school; who choose to access government services and information from locations other than home, work, or school; or who do so through traditional means of access) accesses federal, state and local government services and information, and whether such users are satisfied with the information and services they are able to access. Additionally, the study examines the ways that public libraries and public access computing centers provide assistance (e.g., reference services, tutorials, classes, training) to users seeking federal, state, and local government information and services.

2. Purpose of Collected Information

The information collected through the course of this study will be used by IMLS to help inform their policies and the support they provide to libraries. In addition, both public libraries and public access computing centers will benefit from the information of this study since the results can point to different ways their policies and services can improve their assistance to the public. The collected information will also be relevant to Library and Information Science schools and their course offerings, where many library professionals obtain their educations. This study also has implications for segments of the national public who have limited access to Internet and other information resources. Overall, the information collected for this study will help libraries and public access computing centers provide better service and information resources to the public.

3. Use of Technology in Collection of Information

There are three waves of surveys involved in this research study. The first is a national telephone study. It will not be automated and will require human interaction between respondents and interviewers. Respondents will need to have access to a telephone in order to be included in the sampling frame. The second series of surveys will be administered to libraries and public access computing centers. Both libraries and public access computing centers will have the option of completing the surveys on paper or through the Internet. The third series of surveys will be administered to state libraries and library associations and Library and Information Science schools. All respondents will have the option of completing the surveys on paper or through the Internet.

The national phone survey will be administered by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Telephone interviewers will key survey responses via a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system that not only facilitates the administration of the survey but streamlines the data collection process as well.

For the second and third surveys, respondents have the option of completing the survey online via an automated Web form that electronically submits the survey data to the researchers upon completion of the survey. The online survey instrument will be created, maintained, and administered by the researchers. The researchers will spend a significant amount of time ensuring e-mail lists do not contain duplicates or outdated addresses to facilitate the administration of the survey.

It was important to have Web-based response option available to respondents for a number of reasons. The first is that respondents are generally more inclined to participate in surveys when they have more options to participate, and having these choices may decrease their response burden since there is no set time or physical location when participation must occur. Because the aspects of the study focus on the role the Internet plays in access to government information and that intended respondents include public access computing centers, having online surveys available to respondents seemed appropriate since it not only fits the topic, but also presumably matches the preferred modality of many public access computing centers. Web surveys also eliminate the need to for hand entering paper survey responses, a process that can become costly and subject to human error. Therefore, the decision to include Web survey administration in the research design of this project is to achieve “the best balance between maximizing data quality and controlling measurement error while minimizing respondent burden and cost” (Standard 2.3).

4. How Collection Does Not Duplicate Other Information

In accordance to Standard 1.1, the information that will be collected for this study is unique, and therefore does not duplicate other efforts. Over the course of an extensive literature search, the researchers could not find previously collected information that explored how libraries and public access computing centers help individuals access government information in particular. The General Services Administration particularly requested the research this project covers.

5. How Collection Impacts Small Entities

The series of surveys will impact small entities like libraries, public access computing centers, and LIS schools because qualified personnel like directors and deans will be asked to respond. Surveys have been specifically designed to be brief and have undergone as much pre-testing as allowable by OMB (Standard 1.4). The questions are asked in ways that will be easiest for respondents to answer in order to minimize the time constraints of the survey.

6. Impact of No Collection of Information

Since most print sources of government information now solely reside on the Internet thanks to the rise in e-government, the results from this study will have implications for federal policy governing the dissemination of such information. Delays in collecting or not collecting this information at all would prevent researchers from analyzing the ways in which government information is available to and accessed by US citizens. Since an informed public is a goal of democracy, this has immediate ramifications on federal policy. The collection of this information is also warranted because the information this study proposes to collect is unique and will address holes in scholarly literature.

7. Not Applicable.

8. See attached Federal Register Notice

9. Not Applicable

10. These surveys resulted from a recommendation of the report to Congress, “Improving Access to the Internet,” by the General Services Administration, as required by Section 215 of the E-Government Act of 2002. Respondents to the surveys will be told "The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific [institution or] individual. We will not provide information that identifies you [or your institution] to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law." They will also be told about the benefits of participation at the beginning of the survey. Respondents will have the option of continuing with the survey or not, and this choice by the respondent will be interpreted as their consent to participate. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has approved this data collection (see attached approval).

11. Justification of Sensitive Questions

Questions from the national telephone survey for this study may potentially be interpreted as sensitive questions. This is because the telephone survey seeks to explore the types of problems people have and how they locate and use government information to solve those problems. Some respondents may feel uncomfortable answering these types of questions due to privacy concerns. However, these questions are essential for this research study since its overarching focus is how satisfied people are in using and finding government information. The answers to these questions will tell the researchers which government information topics people seek out more often, the information sources people utilize to find the information they need, how successful their information search was, and how satisfied they were with the information gathering process.

The University of Illinois’s Institutional Review Board has reviewed the research components of this study and has deemed it exempt from further scrutiny unless the project undergoes radical changes in scope or content. All respondents will be told "The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific institution or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your institution to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law." They will also be told about the benefits of participation at the beginning of the survey. Respondents will have the option of continuing with the survey or not, and this choice by the respondent will be interpreted as their consent to participate.

12. Hour Burden for Collection of Information

Respondents	# of Respon- dents	Estimated Time / Respondent Minutes	Estimated Time / Respondent Hours	Total Burden Minutes	Total Burden Hours	Average Yearly Salary		Hourly Burdened Rate*		Total Cost ±
National Telephone Survey	2,500	20	1/3	50,000	833.3
Average public	1,600	20	1/3	32,000	533.3	$65,093	¹	$32.55		$17,358.13
Low-inc/Low-education public	900	20	1/3	18,000	297.0	$20,000	²	$10.00		$2,970.00
National Library Survey	1,500	15	1/4	22,500	375.0	$52,317	³	$26.16		$9,809.44
National Computer Technology Center Survey	1,500	15	1/4	22,500	375.0			$25.00	4	$9,375.00
State Library Training Survey	50	15	1/4	750	12.5	$52,317	³	$26.16		$326.98
Regional Library Training Survey	50	15	1/4	750	12.5	$52,317	³	$26.16	4	$326.98
Library and Information Science School Training Survey	50	15	1/4	750	12.5			$25.00		$312.50
TOTALS	5,650			97,250	1,620.8					$40,479.03

*Hourly Rate assuming 40 hours/week, 50 weeks/year

±Total Burden Hours x Hourly Burdened Rate

¹Four person family median income from http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/4person.html

²Four person family poverty income from http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/figures-fed-reg.shtml

³Salary level for Library Director from 2005 ALA Salary Survey

⁴Based on previous IMLS estimates and similar to Library Director hourly rates

13. Total Annual Cost Burden for Collection of Information There are no capital and start-up costs, or annual operation or maintenance or purchase of services costs to respondents. For respondent costs, see question 12.

14. The government awarded a $495,053 Cooperative Agreement to the Library Research Center of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in partnership with the Pew Internet American Life Project to conduct this research.

15. Not Applicable

16. Plans for Publication of Collected Information

Dissemination of these results will target both the public and professionals. Pew’s established relationship with the media will be utilized to disseminate findings of the telephone survey on the Pew Web site and through press releases. To reach the professional audience, proposals to present findings will be submitted to Community Technology Center Net, American Library Association, and potentially the Public Library Association’s annual conferences. Articles appropriate for publication in their professional literature will also be prepared.

With the submission of the OMB Form 83-1 for this project, all the survey instruments for this project have been pretested and are ready for field deployment. After OMB approval is granted, data collection will commence. It is expected that the phone survey will take two months to administer. Data collection for both the second series of surveys, administered to libraries and public access computing centers, and the third series of surveys, administered to state and regional libraries, and Library and Information Science schools, is expected to last four months. The administration of these surveys is expected to overlap. The following months will be used to pull research results together and prepared for dissemination. The research project is tentatively scheduled for completion by September 30, 2007.

In accordance with Section 7 of the OMB’s Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys, as with other Pew surveys, in the six months following the national telephone data collection period, processed data stripped of subject identifying information is made available to researchers who can demonstrate appropriate research needs that would be satisfied with access to the data. After six months, processed data stripped of subject identifying information is made available to the public through their Web site.¹ Pew public data releases are always accompanied by the survey questionnaire and any other project-specific information necessary for secondary analyses.

Data and related documentation resulting from the survey to libraries and public access computing centers and the survey to LIS schools, state libraries, and library associations will be stored in accordance to Guideline 7.3.2 to ensure that survey results can be used for replication and secondary analyses.

All data releases, documentation, and subsequent reports will include elements of Guideline 7.1.5.

17. Not Applicable

18. Not Applicable.