Filling Digital Divide by Developing Public Libraries’ Educational and Cultural Services

Document Type : Research Article

Author

• Yazdan mansourian

Associate Prof, Tarbiat Moalem University, Tehran

10.22067/riis.v2i1.9010

Abstract

Purpose – this paper aims to describe the role of public libraries in bridging the digital divide. The paper firstly reviews the existing literature body in this area and then suggests a number of practical solutions. Digital divide is a concept which appears in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) since 1990 and refers to the existing inequality in accessing to ICT among various social groups of people.

Method – A purposeful sample of 28 public libraries from seven English-speaking countries (The USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa) was selected. Then the researcher carried out a qualitative content analysis of their websites to evaluate their practical ways of addressing this issue and finally he incorporated all of these solutions into a number of practical guidelines.

Findings – Based on the availability of ICT facilities in public libraries and the users’ proficiency of information literacy skills, four level of digital divide can be identified as follow: deep, semi-deep, average, and shallow digital divide. The results show the most important solution to fill out the digital divide is to enhance the educational role of libraries and to improve their information services. Moreover, public libraries can take more actions to address this issue such as: providing their users with more computer facilities and electronic resources, reconstruct their existing hardware and software, revising their policies, providing end users with more advanced facilities to access to the Internet and other electronic resources, launch remote services such as electronic reference desk, running information literacy skills workshops, development new library websites and maintain them updated, and finally having a more mutual and dynamic interaction with formal educational institutions and encourage library users to use more ICT facilities.

Originality and Value – Despite the importance of digital divide and publishing a huge number of papers on this topic in English, there are only a few Persian papers regarding this topic and this paper would be a useful source for Persian readers.

Keywords

• Digital Divide
• Public Libraries
• Information Literacy Skills
• Public Library Services

---

References

Bertot, J. C. (2003). “The Multiple Dimensions of the Digital Divide: More than the Technology ‘Haves’ and ‘Have nots,’” Government Information Quarterly, 20 (2), 185–191.

Cullen, R. (2001) Addressing the digital divide, Online information review, 25 (5): 311-320

Cullen, R. (2003) The digital divide: a global and national call to action. The Electronic library, 21(3): 247-257

Curtin, J. (2001), A Digital Divide in Rural and Regional Australia? Economics, Commerce and Industrial Relations Group, Retrieved 25/November/2010, from: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/cib/2001-02/02cib01.htm.

Hamilton, M. (2004) Digital divide or digital exclusion? the role of libraries in bridging the digital Divide, Academic Information Service, University of Pretoria. Retrieved 25/November/2010, from: http://www.liasa.org.za/conferences/conference2004/papers/LIASA_Conference_2004_Mphidi.pdf

James, J (2008), Digital Preparedness Versus the Digital Divide: A Confusion of Means and Ends, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59 (5), 785-791.

James, J. (2007). Cumulative bias in the new digital opportunity index. Current Science, 92(1).

Oliver, E. L. (2007). Public Libraries and ICT Literacy: Bridging the Digital Divide, (Online) Retrieved 25/November/2010, from:  http://www.lib.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=bca9bf5a-6cd3-4b29-a8ab-2ba424162fb2.

Ragnar, A. (2006) "Technology and Social Inclusion. Rethinking the Digital Divide", Journal of Documentation, 62 (2), 293 – 295.

Salinas, R. 2003. Addressing the digital divide through collection development, Collection building, 22(3), 131-136.

Singh, A. M. (2004), Bridging the digital divide: the role of universities in getting South Africa closer to the global information society, South African journal of information management, 6 (2) Retrieved 25/November/2010, from: http://www.sajim.co.za/index.php/SAJIM/article/viewArticle/303