The digital divide continues to challenge political and academic circles worldwide. A range of policy solutions is briefly evaluated, from laissez-faire on the right to "arithmetic" egalitarianism on the left. The article recasts the digital divide as a problem for the social distribution of presumptively important information (e.g., electoral data, news, science) within postindustrial society. Endorsing in general terms the left-liberal approach of differential or "geometric" egalitarianism, it seeks to invest this with greater precision, and therefore utility, by means of a possibly original synthesis of the ideas of John Rawls and R. H. Tawney. It is argued that, once certain categories of information are accorded the status of "primary goods," their distribution must then comply with principles of justice as articulated by those major 20th century exponents of ethical social democracy.The resultant Rawls-Tawney theorem, if valid, might augment the portfolio of options for interventionist information policy in the 21st century.

Findings from a study of the advantages and disadvantages accrued by individuals from their public library use, and the impact of this on citizenship at individual and community levels, are presented. The analysis of longitudinal focus group data collected on two occasions at eight UK locations at a time of a so-called ‘public library crisis’ demonstrates a strong sense of the epistemic role of public libraries, and their conception as safe, welcoming, community-owned spaces. Links between public library use and the development of citizenship are less easily identified. However, the evidence shows that public library use facilitates participation in society, and provides resources to allow individuals and communities to fulfil their societal obligations.

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It is expected that instruction in information skills (formerly known as bibliographic instruction) will be an important function of libraries in the “information society”. Describes a model for teaching the core informational skill of library‐based literature searching (information retrieval). It centres on a flow chart of the main stages in a systematic search: create set of search terms; formulate logical search statement; estimate parameters of search; search information sources; and record and evaluate references. The flow chart is flanked by two columns. One contains conceptual frameworks which illuminate aspects of the search process, such as the information chain and QRAQ (quantity, relevance, authority and quality), a simple schema for evaluating bibliographic references. The other column identifies library tools and services which can assist the end‐user at various stages of a search, such as search analysis and bibliographic instruction. The model was developed primarily in an academic, health sciences environment, but operates at a sufficiently high level of generality to be of wide applicability in information skills programmes.