Enabling mobile access to digital libraries in digital divide contexts

Digital libraries (DL) have had a tremendous impact on improving the accessibility of scientific and academic publications. In developing countries, they seem to be the great hope, due to the serious existing problems with the traditional publishing and distribution mechanisms and to the potential they have on enabling access to a great panoply of publications. Moreover, accessing digital libraries over mobile devices has the potential of reaching a broader community of users and on helping to bridge the digital divide, since there are very reduced computer and Internet penetration rates in these countries, along with a higher mobile phone usage. For developed countries, accessing digital libraries on the go might also bring important added value. This paper features an analysis of the major issues related to making digital libraries accessible over mobile devices. A specific study on the possibility of using mobile digital libraries in a developing country context is also presented along with a proposal for making DSpace based digital libraries accessible over mobile phones.

Using Digital and Traditional Libraries in Developing Countries

Given the existing challenges in accessing print-based publications in developing countries, digital libraries are seen as a good alternative. Thus, it is important to understand how such libraries are used in these contexts, especially when compared with the usage of traditional libraries. This paper analyzes and compares the usage of the digital and traditional libraries of the University Jean Piaget of Cape Verde, aiming at understanding the way they are used, and the relation between the access to the existing information resources in these two libraries.