Today's post comes from Yasmin Cole, who works as a Librarian at the City of Ballarat Library Services.
As new technologies are developed and
increasing amounts of information and common tasks are moved online, Australian Libraries play
an important role in equipping Australians to use these technologies. In
2012-2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that only 58% of
Australian households with an annual income of $40,000 or less, had a home
internet connection, as opposed to 98% of households with an annual income of
more than $120,000 (ABS, 2014b, para 2).
Moreover, Digital literacy and e-skills: participation in the digital economy
lists seven groups at risk of facing a digital divide due to low digital
literacy, including Australians on a low income; Australians who have not
undertaken higher education; senior Australians, rural Australians, Indigenous
Australians, Australians with a disability and Australians from a non-English
speaking background (Innovation and Business Skills Australia, 2013, p3). This
gap between the technology ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is known as the digital
divide and has sparked fears that new technologies will replicate existing
socio-economic chasms (Wallis, 2007, pp. 261-262).
Many common tasks and forms are now only
available online, such as job applications, receiving utility bills, entering
competitions, Australian Passport renewals, Working with Children’s Checks,
Police Checks, Tax File Number applications and e-Tax. Additionally, various government
departments, for example, Centrelink and Medicare, promote the use of their
online services to avoid lengthy queues. Whilst this benefits those Australians
with access to reliable internet service, it disadvantages those Australians
who are most likely to need to access to these services, such as low income
Australians, seniors and the unemployed.
Public libraries have long prided themselves as
being at the forefront of equal access to information ("Libraries building
communities: report one: Setting the scene," 2005, p. 17). As society has
progressed to include digital technologies, this community service has become
even more crucial. The Internet and PC usage in Victorian public libraries:
summary report, suggests that Libraries are uniquely placed to assist their
communities, by providing free access to computers and the internet, as without
this service, there is a chance these citizens would face disenfranchisement
from society (I & J Management Services, 2012, p. 1).
Reference List
Wallis, J. (2007). The social, political and
cultural context of libraries in the twenty-first century: an overview Libraries
in the twenty-first century: Charting new directions in information services (pp.
257-266). Wagga Wagga, Australia: Centre for Information Studies.
