E-Government Success in Public Libraries: Library and Government Agency Partnerships Delivering Services to New Immigrants

For much of their history in the United States, public libraries made services for immigrants a key part of their mission by offering them many long-term services, such as developing job searching skills and learning English as a second language. Internet-enabled services, such as navigating the citizenship process, establishing residency, and delivering other key functions through e-government, are a recent addition. This chapter reports the findings of a multi-method study that provides insight into the development of e-government partnerships in various realms (including immigration), highlighting the extent to which these partnerships enhance the ability of libraries to overcome the various challenges that arise in connection with providing e-government services to different populations.

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