Lost in the Library

Pixabay

From my place of privilege I have always taken public libraries for granted. I have never had to think about a world where knowledge and information would not be readily available to me in a variety of sources. Because of this, I was particularly interested in learning more about this week’s topic. As this article in the Guardian points out, public libraries can be very important places to learn new information, find new business connections, or research for professional advancement. They are vitally important to communities in developing nations. Below are a few programs who have worked to bring about equal access to information and technology. 

Giphy

The Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation Access to Learning Award has produced a number of creative outreach programs in developing nations to bring technology into communities. While researching this topic I was encouraged to see former recipients and the work that they are doing to bring an accessibility to technology and information into their local communities. While the Bill and Melinda Foundation no longer offers this award and has withdrawn from the Global Libraries initiative it has a great legacy of contributing to the advancement of equalizing the distribution of knowledge and information in developing nations.

Pixabay

Likewise, Librarians without Borders is another organization with the goal of helping libraries in developing nations best serve their communities. With projects in Ghana and Guatemala this is an interesting site to learn from. The Ghana project in particular is working with Libraries Across Africa to build both print and digital collections in order to best serve the communities there. 

Another way to make fiction more accessible for everyone is being able to use websites that offer free ebooks or audiobooks. However, access sites to sites like Open Library, Project Gutenberg, or Librivox are dependent  on the availability of the technology necessary to use them. But as smart devices become more available in developing countries this is becoming more of a possibility. In this way Library for All is working to create a cloud based digital library for students in developing countries. In the video below, Rebecca Mcdonald discusses why she helped to create this program in Tedx Talk. Unfortunately, the audio is not fantastic.

Libraries play important roles in all communities and having up to date information and technology in any library is vital to its success. This is especially true to libraries of developing nations. It was an eye opening week to discover what programs and efforts exist out there to make the access to information equal for all. This is an area that I will continue to explore as there is so much more to learn about. 

References 

Librarians Without Borders

http://lwb-online.org/

Libraries Across Africa 

http://librariesacrossafrica.org/innovation.html

Library for All

http://www.libraryforall.org/

Youtube Library for All Tedx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFr2SeyrOm8&t=672s

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation- ATLA

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Global-Libraries/Access-to-Learning-Award-ATLA

Librivox

https://librivox.org/

Project Gutenberg

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Open Library

https://openlibrary.org/

the Guardian. (2017). Stamping out poverty as well as books? How libraries can support development. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/mar/12/libraries-power-global-development [Accessed 28 Oct. 2017].

Ian H. Witten, Michel Loots, Maria F. Trujillo, David Bainbridge, (2002) "The promise of digital libraries in developing countries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 20 Issue: 1, pp.7-13, https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470210418218