The Digital Divide

For many people, libraries serve as a source of knowledge and information whether they're located in a high school, at the center of a university campus, tucked away in a law firm, or parceled out in dozens of branches throughout a metropolis.  Libraries are becoming more and more a community center, meeting place, and space for creativity as well.  And because many libraries are open to the public free of charge, it would follow that anyone and everyone has equal access to the materials they seek.  However, locating information today largely requires the use of advancing technology:  computers, electronic databases, wireless networks, and the knowledge of how to use these tools in order to find the most relevant material.  Unfortunately, these things are not as widely available one might suppose and, in fact, there exists quite a gap between the "haves" and "have nots", if you will. This inequality in the access to and ability to make use of library technology is known as the "Digital Divide".

Image courtesy of http://dollarbits.com/great-divide-low-priced-home-sales-sink-high-priced-ones-rise/

Here is a brief YouTube video that explores the basics: