“The Digital Divide & Public Libraries: a First-Hand View”

Agosto, Denise E. “The Digital Divide & Public Libraries: a First-Hand View.” Progressive Librarian, no.25 (Summer 2005): 23-27.

In this fascinating article, the author compares the resources and services of three branch libraries within the same library system. In particular, she looked at the computer and Internet capabilities and found vast inequities.

After comparing the resources, the author identified three factors that contributed to the inequities. The first was an uneven distribution of resources such as computer workstations within the same library system. The second was a difference the amount of support private residents provided to augment the libraries’ resources. The third was a difference in the amount of support from local commercial entities (25).

Because the author was comparing specific branches, the data were more detailed, as in workstations per patron, and made the findings of larger studies more real to me. This was a short, but very powerful article that highlighted the differences in access to the Internet between communities. It also included specific examples of how the lack of access had a negative impact on particular people, such as the man who was going for a job interview but couldn’t get his resume together in time because of lack of access to a computer.