The Intersection of Public Policy and Public Access: Digital Divides, Digital Literacy, Digital Inclusion, and Public Libraries

The co-evolution of e-government and public libraries: Technologies, access, education, and partnerships

“…The reasons for the lack of use include access barriers such as poverty, education, disability, geography, and missing infrastructure, that is, broadband (Holt & Holt, 2010;Jaeger, Bertot, Thompson, Katz, & DeCoster, 2012;Kinney, 2010). The U.S. has not attained equality of access when it comes to the Internet, and progress in bridging this divide has been slow.…”

“…Such partnerships range from providing tax assistance, to helping to complete the immigration process, to creating the means to order groceries in food deserts, and providing social services in the library (Bertot, 2010;Jaeger, Bertot, Thompson, et al, 2012;Sigler et al, 2011). In the most complex initiatives, entire suites of social services and training are available in libraries, such as the linking of services for unemployment, food assistance, and child support with educational programs for increasing job-seeking and employment skills.…”

Rural Public Libraries and Digital Inclusion: Issues and Challenges

“…5 Digital inclusion comprises policies and actions that mitigate the significant, interrelated problems of the digital divide and digital literacy:…”

TV Whites Spaces in Public Libraries: A Primer

“…7 Digital divides are exacerbated by various factors including: socioeconomic status, education, geography, age, ability, language, and especially availability and quality. 8 In recent years, the language describing this issue has changed, but the inequalities stay consistent and widen among different dimensions with each emerging technology. The most recent public policy term "digital inclusion" promotes digital literacy efforts for unserved and underserved populations.…”