Theme: Digital Divides

Digital Divides

The Living Information report pertaining to the UNESCO Information for All Programme brings together two concepts
- access to information and the use of information. "Living information" also refers to knowledge that helps people
enhance their lives.

The traditional generation gap still exists in the developed countries, but the size of it is decreasing as an ever-larger
number of senior citizens are using online services. New “secondary gaps”have stepped into the picture. Young
people are supposed to know all about how to use the Internet, and those who are not familiar with Facebook or
Youtube easily feel marginalized. What they really should worry about is learning to find adequate, reliable information to help them enhance their lives.

Marginalization is not a threat to only the unemployed, those living in economic straits, or those who are not so good at speaking the language of the country in which they live. Development accelerates at a fast pace and any one of
us may one day find out that we are actually standing on the edge of the abyss. In this issue, we depict the role of
the library as a builder of the bridges that take people over the gaps.

Barbro Wigell-Ryynänen