Our discussion in class today led to many questions about accessibility. “World Libraries” can make more resources, more available IF you have access to the internet.

The Promise of Digital Libraries in Developing Countries by Ian H. Witten et al., points to a shift from “haves” and “have nots” to “knows” and “knows not”. This information-based society demands that we are connected, that we are informed, that we have the skills to operate in cyberspace and use technological devices. These capacities are becoming requisite to participation in our society.

Here is a related quote I got from our Diigo group. Thanks to Anne-Marie for posting it:

“Opportunities available online have become so important to individual and community development that a 2011 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression declared Internet access to be a fundamental enabler of human rights.”

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Global-Libraries

Our group talked about a lack access to technology as a form of poverty and the Gates Foundation takes it a step farther and makes it an issue of Human Rights. Wow.

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Another area of discussion today was the value of hard-cover books. I have no doubt that four boys would gather around an i-pad the way they are gathered around this book. In reality, they could develop all the reading skills and attitudes they need from digital media.

There are a lot of pros to libraries going digital, on a local and global level, but our group pointed out some potential drawbacks:

-Elementary school libraries have books written for children at their reading level. We would hope that appropriate materials would be available to young readers via a digital library not like the average internet search that locates texts beyond our students abilities.

-We have a connection with books. The physical book. Its illustrations, its pages to turn, its wonder…We liked the idea of incorporating digital media into the library, especially in cases where students need some adaptations (more or less advanced texts). Our libraries would not be exclusively digital.

-We looked at paper resources (yes, books!) that were connected to the internet. (The books themselves created in such a way that direct, student-friendly links are connected to the text.) Videos, websites, games…all connected to the book in front of you. We thought books of this nature were useful though we wondered about their web links eventually disappearing.

-We know not all students are connected and some have limited access to the internet (maybe just at school) and we think these students should be able to borrow books from their library.

We understand that we will move from browsing shelves to browsing files but for now we see libraries having both digital and hard-copies available to our students/families.

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How do “World Digital Libraries” connect to our Inquiry about creating communication links with our students/parents through websites and blogs? We aren’t exactly sure.

Some potential connections:
-add a link to world digital libraries on our sites (ex. International Children’s Digital Library)
-we can inform students/parents about The World Digital Library and how it can be used as a resource for research

Overall, the goal of our inquiry is to foster communication and connectedness. Digital Libraries would do the same, no?