Jamie McClelland, Technology and Policy Specialist, Libraries for the Future
Libraries for the Future
email: jamiem@lff.org
121 W. 27th Street, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10001
Convergence
As technology changes the way we access information, many industries are converging. The Nation magazine published the "National Entertainment State" documenting convergence of media companies; they will soon publish similar study of the convergence of the publishing world. The result is less local specific information, less diversity of opinion.
In non-profit world similar forces are occurring, as different groups with similar missions realize that they are duplicating each other's efforts. Difficult these days to tell the difference between mission statements of libraries, I & R's, cable access centers, and community networks.
Building a civic web means rejecting corporate model of buy-outs and mergers and instead creatively combining resources of vastly different organizations to increase diversity of information and expand non-corporate, non-commercial information.
An example
acCEss Newark. acCEss Newark is a joint project between Libraries for the Future, Children's Express, and the Newark Public Library. Each organization brings different expertise. CE brings programming, LFF brings staffing and outreach experience, the library brings the place and a relationship with the community. Project will involve youth in the neighborhood, who will discuss and publish articles on issues they find important in their community. Article will be posted on the web and distributed in print.
Key to success is advocacy!
Information is a human right. We must maintain PUBLIC spaces. acCEss Newark will involve the distribution of ideas that are not commercially marketable. This model is just one, but it combines two key elements: cooperation between organizations and the distribution of locally specific information.