Digital Divide: How Can Digital Libraries Bridge the Gap?

Recent developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have, while making our life easier, created a social divide that is known as the digital divide. Statistics show that there are significant disparities among the population in the developed and developing world in terms of the accessibility to, and use of, ICT. Research and development in digital libraries do not only require sophisticated ICT, they also call for huge investment in terms of money and intellectual resources. Developing countries are lagging behind in digital library research and development due to the digital divide, as well as due to the lack of appropriate resources required for research and development in digital libraries. As a result users in the developing world are being deprived of digital library services. This paper argues that some recent global digital library developments can be used by users in the developing countries, and thus digital libraries can play a significant role in bridging the gap. These developments include subject gateways, digital reference services, free access to e-journals and ebooks in many areas, and e-print archives and free digital libraries. The paper ends with an action plan that may be used by library and information professionals in the developing countries, as well as developed countries, to exploit the benefits of these digital information resources and services, and thus to some extent can bridge the gap of digital divide. Introduction While the information and communication technologies (ICT) in general, and the Internet and the world wide web in particular, have made life easier by facilitating easy communication with virtually everyone, and easy access to information located virtually anywhere in the world, they have also widened the gap between the rich and the poor, the ‘have’ and the ‘have nots’. In other words, new technologies, while improving our life in many ways have created what is called the ‘digital divide’. The digital divide has become a popular phrase to describe the perceived disadvantages of those who are either unable, or do not choose, to use the appropriate ICT in their day-to-day activities, decision making, learning and pleasure [1]. It is caused by a number of divides, such as the infrastructure, hardware, running costs, manpower, and information and digital literacy. Digital libraries make use of ICT and the web to provide access to the local and remote digital information sources and services. Therefore, accessibility to the basic ICT and the Internet is a prerequisite to the development and use of digital libraries. There are many other factors too. The two most important issues are (1) the cost of building and maintaining sustainable digital library systems and services, and (2) achieving the required information literacy standards so as to exploit the full benefits of digital libraries. This paper discusses the problems facing the developing countries in these two areas the consequence of which is the widening of the gaps between the developed and the developing countries in terms of accessibility to digital information sources and services. This paper argues that some recent global digital library developments can be used by users in the developing countries, and thus digital libraries can play a significant role in bridging the gap. Finally the paper shows how digital library services can be set up with minimum initial investments in the developing counties in order to make some of the global digital library sources and services available to the users. Digital Divide: Some Facts and Figures The Digital Divide Basics Fact Sheet [2] shows that there are an estimated 429 million people (only 6% of the world’s entire population) online globally, with the following distribution: • 41% of the global online population is in the United States and Canada