Challenges for Libraries in the Information Age
Elizabeth A. Gould, Ricardo Gómez · IGI Global eBooks · 2011
Libraries play a central role as venues that offer public access to information. Increasingly, libraries in developing countries are offering access to computers and the Internet, as well as to books and other types of information services and resources. Given the relatively scant literature on public access to ICT in libraries in many countries, we explore in this chapter the specific challenges libraries face in the countries we studied in the Landscape Study. How are public libraries serving the information needs of marginalized communities in developing countries? How is access to new information and communication technologies (ICT) changing the landscape of public access to information? How can libraries better collaborate with other types of venues (such as telecenters and cybercafés) that offer public access to computers and the Internet? These are some of the questions that we seek to answer in this chapter.