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The Digital Divide is the sociopolitical and economic factors that place certain populations at a disadvantage in terms of accessing technology. Libraries can help narrow The Digital Divide by ensuring that technologies are readily available and providing free technology tutorials to patrons. A library's goal is to provide patrons with access to information and resources they need, but the path to these resources is more and more frequently found in the digital realm.

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48 views2 pages

Aferrante Assignment1handout

The Digital Divide is the sociopolitical and economic factors that place certain populations at a disadvantage in terms of accessing technology. Libraries can help narrow The Digital Divide by ensuring that technologies are readily available and providing free technology tutorials to patrons. A library's goal is to provide patrons with access to information and resources they need, but the path to these resources is more and more frequently found in the digital realm.

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Digital Divide

LIS488

Amanda Ferrante

What is the Digital Divide?


Think about how much of our lives are governed by and require technology like
computers, smart phones, and Internet access. Job applications, health coverage,
education, community involvement, networking the list goes on. The Digital
Divide is a term used when referring to the sociopolitical and economic factors
that place certain populations at a disadvantage in terms of accessing
technology. Stanford Universitys definition:
[T]he growing gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially
the poor, rural, elderly, and handicapped portion of the population who do not
have access to computers or the internet; and the wealthy, middle-class, and
young Americans living in urban and suburban areas who have access.

What factors contribute to the Digital Divide?


Studies published by the Pew Research Center identify demographics more likely to
be affected by the digital divide. It is important to note that many of these
factors are interconnected, and that addressing the digital divide requires
acknowledgment of sociopolitical and economic factors that further these
disadvantages:

Household income Direct correlation between income and technology use


Educational attainment Can correlate with income, thus impacting technology use
Race Black and Hispanic adults report lower Internet and smart phone usage
Age Adults above the age of 65 report drastically lower Internet and smart phone
usage
Community type Availability of technology can differ in rural, suburban, and urban
communities
Disabilities Availability of technology that caters to individuals with disabilities
is inconsistent
Language preference Available technologies tend to have an English-language bias

How does the Digital Divide affect libraries, and what can we do to help?
As librarians, our goal is to provide patrons with access to information and
resources they need. However, the path to these resources is more and more
frequently found in the digital realm, and many self-serve tools found in
libraries are technology-based. According to the Pews studies, there are
several ways that librarians can help narrow the digital divide:

Ensure that technologies are readily available (If you build it, they will come)
Perform community outreach; provide technology tutorials to patrons free of charge
Train library staff so that any basic queries can be immediately addressed
Expand educational programming (technological literacy cannot be promoted if basic
literacy skills are lacking.)

Per the ALA:


Libraries are major sources of information for society and they serve as guardians
of the publics access to information more generally. The advent of the digital
world has revolutionized how the public obtains its information and how libraries
provide it. Libraries help ensure that Americans can access the information they
need regardless of age, education, ethnicity, language, income, physical
limitations or geographic barriers as the digital world continues to evolve. Core
values of the library community such as equal access to information, intellectual
freedom, and the objective stewardship and provision of information must be preserved
and strengthened in the evolving digital world.

Discussion:

What are your experiences with the digital divide? Do you know of any
libraries that were able to give their community a leg up?

Obviously, a 5 minute presentation only scratches the surface, and my focus was
on public libraries- are there any factors influencing access to technologies
that werent mentioned here? Are there any resources or solutions available
that werent mentioned here?

Do you know of any resources (blogs, groups, associations) that address the
digital divide, or offer suggestions of how to implement programming in your
library?

Sources:
American Library Association. "Access." Accessed October 30, 2015.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/access.
Crawford, Susan. "Libraries Struggle to Close the 'Digital Divide'." The New York Times, July
9, 2014. Accessed October 30, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/27/dowe-still-need-libraries/libraries-struggle-to-close-the-digital-divide.
Rainie, Lee. "Digital Divides 2015." Pew Research Center. Accessed October 30, 2015.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/09/22/digital-divides-2015/.
Stanford University. "Digital Divide." Accessed October 30, 2015.
http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/digital-divide/start.html.

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