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Libraries Bridging the Digital Divide
The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to digital technologies and the internet versus those who do not. Approximately one third of Americans, or 100 million people, lack access largely due to socioeconomic factors. Libraries play a key role in bridging this divide by providing free internet access and digital literacy training to 77 million Americans annually, serving as the sole provider of these services in 64.5% of communities. Increasing access and skills is important as internet access impacts opportunities in education, employment, civic participation and more.
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Libraries Bridging the Digital Divide
- 1. Libraries Bridging the Digital Divide Library of Michigan Opening Keynote, Beginning Workshop Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net @librarianbyday bobbi@librarianbyday.net
- 2. What is thedigital divide? Why does it matter? The role of Libraries
- 3. What is thedigital divide?
- 4. What will closeit? Access to the technology AND Skills to use it well
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- 6. Who Doesn’t HaveAccess? one third of all Americans or 100 million Americans
- 7. Who Doesn’t HaveAccess • less than 33% poorest Americans have adopted home broadband (over 90% of the richest Americans have high-speed internet access at home) • less than 50% of African Americans have home broadband access • less than 50% Latinos have home broadband access • less than 50% of the elderly have home broadband access • less than 50% of rural populations have home broadband access -Genachowski, 2011
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- 10. Digital Literacy isthe ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information requiring both cognitive and technical skills. ALA Digital Literacy Taskforce, 2012
- 11. Why Does ItMatter?
- 12. Some Stats • Over80% of Fortune 500 companies require online job applications (including major employers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and ExxonMobil) • students with a computer and broadband at home have 6 to 8 percentage higher GPA than similar student who don’t have home access to the Internet • Consumers with broadband at home have the potential to save more than $7,000 a year. - Genachowski, 2011
- 13. Connection Opportunity Education Employment Civic Engagement
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- 15. Libraries provide abridge across the digital divide
- 16. 77 million Americansor approximately 34% of the population used a public library to access the internet In 2009
- 17. In 64.5% ofcommunities the public library is the only free provider of public access to a computer and the internet
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- 19. Resources • Digitalliteracy.gov • Connectto Compete • Digital Literacy Project - Atwater Library • Digital Literacy: Learning Resources | Idaho Commission for Libraries
- 20. References • ALA supports FCC proposal to fund digital literacy training through public libraries. (2012, April 3).District Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.districtdispatch.org/2012/04/ala-supports-fcc- proposal-to-fund-digital-literacy-training-through-public-libraries/ • Becker, S., Crandall, M. D., Fisher, K. E., Kinney, B., Landry, C., & Rocha, A. (2010). Opportunity for American Library Association. (2011). The state of America's libraries: A report from the American Library Association. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Retrieved from http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries2011/state_of_americas_li braries_report_2011.pdf • All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries (IMLS-2010-RES-01). Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services. • DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the ‘digital divide’ to ‘digital inequality’: Studying internet use as penetration increases. Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University: Center for the Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. • Federal Communications Commission. (2010). Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan. Washington, D.C: Federal Communications Commission. • Genachowski, J. (2011, November). FCC & “Connect to Compete” tackle barriers to broadband adoption, Face Sheet for Chairman Genachowski Remarks on Broadband Adoption, Speech presented in Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-310924A1.pdf • Smith, A. (2010). Home broadband 2010. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. • Zickuhr, K. (2010). Generations 2010. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. • Zickuhr, K., & Smith, A. (2012). Digital differences. Washington, D.C: Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.
- 21. Questions? Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net @librarianbyday bobbi@librarianbyday.net
Editor's Notes
- #12 When citizens gain access to the internet they gain access to a multitude of new possibilities. Research by Pew shows that broadband users of all ages utilize the internet for a wide range of activities including: email, using search engines, seeking health information, following the news, buying products, making travel reservations or purchases, online banking, looking for religious information, rating products, services, or people, making charitable donations and downloading and listening to podcasts Government agencies are no longer issuing print forms. Banks are sending alerts and account balance information via text messages. Email notification of package deliveryHomeworkSearch for and Apply for jobsEducation Health and wellness, diet and nutrition informationFind a doctor Laws & regulationsGovernment formsContact information for a specific government official or agencyCommunity and civic engagement NewsPersonal financesPay billsWe are exposed to more mediated messages in one day than our great-grandparents were exposed to in a year-Center for Media LiteracyA respected Swiss scientist, Conrad Gessner, might have been the first to raise the alarm about the effects of information overload. In a landmark book, he described how the modern world overwhelmed people with data and that this overabundance was both "confusing and harmful" to the mind. The media now echo his concerns with reports on the unprecedented risks of living in an "always on" digital environment. It's worth noting that Gessner, for his part, never once used e-mail and was completely ignorant about computers. That's not because he was a technophobe but because he died in 1565. His warnings referred to the seemingly unmanageable flood of information unleashed by the printing press