Article 4

A critical review of Missingham, R. (2009) Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship. Australian Library Journal, 58 (4), 386-399.

The author is currently Parliamentary Librarian for the Australian Parliamentary Library, having previous appointments to the National Library of Australia, Australian Library and Information Association and convenor of Electronic Resources Australia (ERA), the organisation at the centre of this article. This gives the author an excellent background from which to discuss the digital environment in Australia, highlighting the digital divide that exists between urban and rural citizens and the achievements of libraries in supporting citizens to become more digitally adept. Missingham concludes that, “A digital economy can only be built by a community with digital access and digital content that supports their lives and digital skills.” The author has effectively captured the pressing need to provide the necessary digital skills, content and infrastructure that will lead Australia forward in the 21st century and stimulate the digital economy and its citizenship.

The article starts by providing a comparison of where Australia sits in various rankings which suggest that “widespread, affordable access to broadband and internet content is not yet with us”. The item that stood out for me from these comparisons was that Australia is the 3rd most expensive for fixed line services to small to medium enterprises, which possibly highlights the monopoly on infrastructure that Telstra has at the moment thus crushing competition. The point is made by Missingham, that although there are countless resources available on the internet, those that are freely available can be of variable quality and that access to many quality resources have subscription costs that preclude their use by all except larger organisations. This shows the increasing cost of access to information and the further divide of our communities into the information rich and information poor.

The author discusses the inception of Electronic Resources Australia (ERA), providing a background to the creation and selection of a number of online resources to be made available through libraries. The strong role of libraries in the creation of this organisation and its role of providing access to affordable Australian online resources through libraries is a pointer to how our libraries can remain relevant in the digital future. With the increasing reliance on the internet for study, commerce, health and government information, libraries can remain central to our communities and citizens by providing equitable access and content. Missingham highlights three issues that dominate our digital future; Connectivity, Content and Capability. The National Broadband Network is highlighted by the author, as a major step by the government to provide the necessary infrastructure for connecting communities. But this is a long-term project and the costs for access are yet to be finalised. The point is also made that access without quality content is not desirable. This requires new funding models on a national approach for access to quality resources with the increased publishing of government and research content also required. Finally Missingham points to the role of libraries in providing training and support to communities to access online services and resources with access open to all.

In summary the author has provided an excellent overview of the state of our digital nation and the steps to encouraging participation in and stimulation of the digital economy. This includes the importance of providing affordable access, quality content and the skills to allow citizens to use information to participate in our digital nation.