What is the digital divide? What does it mean? What role does age and disability have in the digital divide? What steps can/should libraries and information agencies take to narrow or eliminate the gap in services among the various service populations?

What is the digital divide?  From how I understand it, the digital divide is the divide between those who are privileged enough to have access to technology and are able to use it to their advantage and those who are underprivileged and are unable to gain access to technology.  In an article that I read for another course, "The Internet, Public Libraries, and the Digital Divide" author Bo Kinney discusses how providing access to computers may not be enough in order to close the "digital divide". It would seem that although certain minorities have gained higher access to computers and the internet over the years, the gap is still evidence of the struggle between the advantages of the majority and the disadvantages of the minority. 

The disabled and the elderly are in the minority when it comes to being able to affectively access and use technology.  For the disabled, many times it is due to the lack of adaptive equipment that they are unable to access technology.  For the elderly however, the problem is, for the most part, a lack of education when it comes to how to use the technology provided to them.  Librarians have to become the educators.

Libraries may offer access to technology, but providing access alone is not enough.  Librarians need to be able to teach the public, the disadvantaged especially, how to utilize the technology that is provided to them.  Some librarians would argue that they did not become librarians in order to teach.  However, it stands to reason that libraries have always been a source of information.  If the general public knew how to access the information provided by the library without any assistance, what would be the use of Librarians?

Especially when it comes to the elderly and patrons with disabilities, it is extremely important for librarians to understand how to properly assist these patrons so that they can learn how to use the technology provided to their advantage and start closing the digital divide.  This is part of what Project ALFA is all about.  The ALFA fellows are learning how to use different adaptive programs and assistive technologies in order to make computers and other forms of technology more user-friendly for those patrons who need assistance. In our own small way, we are working toward bridging the gap that is the digital divide.

Kinney, B. (2010). The internet, public libraries, and the digital divide. Public Library Quarterly, 29(2), 

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