In a recent post on her blog Librarian.net, Jessamyn West brought up the subject of the Digital Divide, bemoaning the fact that as an issue in Libraryland, it has garnered less attention in recent years than it should. As one of the motivators for our organization’s inception (see Toward Equality of Access, a report on research sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), this is still a key issue for us at WebJunction.

One facet of this issue that has become important in the last few years is the emergence of so-called “E-Government”. As more and more citizen-to-government interactions are being transferred exclusively to cyberspace, those without access to computers or the internet are in danger of becoming more marginalized than ever.

In her post, Jessamyn West applauds the efforts of members of ALA who recently submitted a statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing, “E-Government 2.0: Improving Innovation, Collaboration, and Access” urging them to include public libraries in the creation and implementation of online government information portals and tools. They argue that as public libraries are the main source for free access to these resources, they should be involved in the planning stages.

WebJunction’s Community of Practice, Government Information in the 21st Century, is also tackling this issue with a continuing education program for librarians and library workers that addresses identified issues related to the general lack of awareness of and needed skills to make effective use of government information resources.

So far, the library community has seen little collaboration or support from federal agencies for the significant increase in services public libraries provide on their behalf, but hopefully with the continued efforts of advocates like Jessamyn West, the tide will turn.