Kiosks are again becoming popular. Now that it is feasible to have them online, more

councils are looking at them as ways of doing business in a safe manner. Fairfax County

Library System introduced kiosks a number of years ago, and they have proven popular

with the community. 

The Library Director of Fairfax County, Sam Clay, sees e government at its simplest

as a tool of service delivery, and at it most complex as the engagement of the critical

mass of the population with the county. In Fairfax, he said, the county looked at what

they wanted to provide and then sought to identify the best format or interface to deliver

it. Early on, the county perceived the library service as a key player in its plans. It is

important to follow the  enquiry path  in web design, which helped shape the interface

in the county's web pages and in the public kiosks that are now spread around Fairfax.

In Fairfax County, services via the kiosks are online to the County WAN. They are not yet

available over the Internet, although this is planned for 2002. Kiosks are seen as alternatives

to County Offices. The cash benefit of this type of service delivery is an important issue,

but no magic formula has been devised to demonstrate this model's cost effectiveness. The

kiosk project, which was established in 1996, is known as CRiS (Community Resident

Information Services), and 4 million enquiries have been received via the units.

While kiosks are again becoming popular, beware of the kiosk vendor that promises

free sites. A spate of these operators in the UK has wasted considerable staff time up to

the eve of contract completion, only to pull out because they had failed to realise their

income stream. The source of this income is usually small and medium enterprises

(SMEs), which are targets for the company's web developers and designers.

Future

One day everyone who wants access to the Internet will have it. The timing is dependent

on individuals, governments and the technology available. Convergence may mean that in

two or three years, people will access the Internet via their televisions. Access to PCs is a

current preoccupation for libraries, which may be solved in the medium term. Access to

information, however, will continue to be the most important role that libraries play.

Linking communities   online

E government is not just about transactions   it is also about utilising ICTs to assist

communities, whether this be to equip them with the necessary skills to find and access

networked information, or to encourage them to form local networks   local information

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