Virtual Equity: Multilingual Library Access / Library as the Information Hub for Better City Life: the Multicultural Perspectives
The digital divide and its probable causes among recent immigrant groups and the minority populations of the United States remain well documented in information studies literature. The asymmetrical information access that is created by the digital divide can translate into a maladaptive transition of recent immigrants into civil society and hampered self-empowerment. It is rightfully postulated that public libraries in the United States have historically served as facilitators of information access for the general populace as well as the community centers where the issues of the information divide are mediated. It can be argued that the recent immigrant groups and some segments of the minority populations do not possess the minimal English language skills that are needed to effectively participate in this information mediation. This issue of equity in information exchange becomes even more acute as more and more information sources transition to adigital format from their analog counterparts. This lack of access due to the lack of language skills becomes further exacerbated in the digital age. The library web-sites typically serve as entry portals to various information sources that might be of utility to these populations. This case study will be conduct the content analysis of information portals of the five public library systems that are located in California, Florida, New York, and Texas with the largest numbers of speakers of other language for their ability to provide multilingual access. We would argue that the provision of multilingual information access to these groups would allow libraries to function as an integrative transition platform for these immigrant groups into the mainstream America.
library multilingual access information access immigrant groups america
Liladhar R.Pendse
University of California, Los Angeles, USA
国际会议
杭州
英文
71-87
2010-08-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）