Since the October 2003 biennial report, the Commission has held one meeting: a December 15 conference call.

The Commission is in charge of the January 2004 issue of North Carolina Libraries. Elizabeth Skinner (Forsyth County Public Library) and Deana Astle (East Carolina University) are co-editors for the issue and are currently editing manuscripts. Four manuscripts have been received, and another one or two may materialize.

In 2003, the Commission conducted a Web-based survey of professional and paraprofessional librarians in North Carolina regarding their thoughts on the future of libraries and the book. The results of the survey were presented as a poster session at the 2003 biennial conference and will also be published in North Carolina Libraries. The Commission would now like to conduct a statewide survey of library users and non-users (or potential users) to determine their ideas about the future role of libraries in North Carolina given the future of the book and other information technologies. We envision surveying users and non-users (or potential users) of public, academic, and school libraries. We believe that such a survey would provide valuable information that could be used by the State Library and libraries throughout the state to better plan for the future and better market their services to both users and non-users. The cost of such a survey would likely be $15,000 to $20,000, and the Commission is now trying to find funds for this project.

Robert Burgin, Chair