To what extent can libraries ensure free, equal and unhampered access to Internet-accessible

321 Pages·2005·3.19 MB·English

To what extent can libraries ensure free, equal and unhampered access to
Internet-accessible information resources from a global perspective?

Stuart Hamilton
PhD thesis from the Department of Library and Information Management
Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark
http://www.ifla.org/faife/index.htm
Hamilton, Stuart
To what extent can libraries ensure free, equal and
unhampered access to Internet-accessible information
resources from a global perspective? Stuart Hamilton.
Copenhagen: Department of Library and Information
Management, Royal School of Library and Information
Science/FAIFE, 2004. 264 p. + appendixes.
Available:
http://biblis.db.dk/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/db.stuham05
ISBN: 87-7415-287-4
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Acknowledgements

To begin with, I would like to thank John McIlwaine, my former tutor at the School of
Library, Archive and Information Studies at University College London for encouraging
me to undertake trips to library conferences in the Caribbean as a way of broadening my
LIS horizons somewhat. Without his support and advice my interest in the international
aspects of librarianship may have never been able to be realised, and for his help I am
truly grateful.

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Niels Ole Pors, my tutor at the Royal School in
Copenhagen for the length of my PhD research. Niels Ole has been extremely
supportive of my work all the way through the project, offering advice when most
needed but also allowing me the time and space to focus my own thinking. He has been
able to point me in the right direction at exactly the right moment, and consequently has
led me into areas most appropriate for the project.

I owe equal gratitude to Susanne Seidelin, the Director of the FAIFE office. For three
years we have worked together at the Royal School in Copenhagen and at conferences
around the world, and Susanne has been a great colleague, advisor and friend. Her
enthusiasm for the work of FAIFE, and her continuing efforts to make the best of the
office in sometimes difficult financial circumstances, has been inspiring. Some of the
best moments of the past three years have been spent in the company of Susanne at
various conferences and meetings, often pondering how best to do the work of FAIFE
as situations change all around us.

I wish to particularly express my gratitude to all of the staff at the Royal School of
Library and Information Science for all of their help over the past three years. The move
from England to Denmark was made a lot easier as a result of their friendliness,
generosity and advice, and I am extremely grateful for everything they have done for
me. In particular I would like to thank our departmental secretary Annette Engelund
Madsen for helping out where my Danish feared to tread, my Head of Department, Carl
Gustav Johannsen, and the Director, Leif Lørring, for their help whenever I needed it.
Also at the school, I would like to send a big thank you to all of my fellow PhD students
who have always been available to lend an ear whenever I have needed one.

The Royal School is one sponsor of this PhD project to whom I am very grateful; the
other is the International Federation of Library Associations. This arrangement means I
have been blessed with a further set of colleagues and advisors for the past three years.
Special thank yous must be paid to the two Chairs of the FAIFE Committee I have
worked with, Alex Byrne at the University of Sydney, Australia, and Professor Paul
Sturges from the University of Loughborough in England. The members of the FAIFE
Advisory Board and Committee have also been a fantastic and interesting group of
people to work with for the past three years, often helping me out with contacts and
advice when needed.

Many thanks to all the people who have helped with the data collection and
interviewing process: Loida Garcia-Febo in New York for her advice and Spanish
translating skills; the questionnaire pre-testers Marianna Tax Choldin, Jasmina Ninkov
and Aleksandra Horvat; Kelly Moore at IFLA Headquarters for all her hard work
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finding hundreds of email addresses to send the questionnaires to; and all those who
took the time to respond to the survey or attend the roundtable discussion sessions in
Berlin. The interviewees: Dejan Ajdacic, Phil Archer, Sheila Corrall, Vanessa Hayward,
Mirko Markovic, Jonathan Peizer, Geoff Smith, and J.K. Vijaykumar – many thanks
indeed for your insights.

Finally I would like to thank some of the great friends I have made in Copenhagen in
the past three years. Andrew Cranfield, formerly of the library school, has always been
available for a discussion, whether about the joys and pains of LIS, or our shared
fascination for an average football team. Likewise, to all my housemates I was lucky
enough to move in with in our wonderful house in Søborg - I appreciate your patience
as I occasionally vented spleen regarding the future of the Internet. Oh, and Michael,
Mikkel, Jez, the Bloomsday (and all of the people back in England) - much appreciated!

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Abstract

This dissertation examines the extent to which libraries can provide equal and
unhampered access to Internet-accessible information resources on a global scale. It is
concerned with restrictions on access to information via the Internet in libraries, and it
specifically investigates access to Internet-accessible information through web sites and
online databases, and via communication-based mediums such as email. The overall
aim of the dissertation is to identify a set of barriers that exist on a global scale, and to
examine these barriers and assess the extent to which the international library
community is able to overcome them. The research takes as its starting point the rapid
growth of the Internet as an information provider in the last ten years. It takes place
against a background of uncertain global security and a globalised economy that is
increasingly taking advantage of Internet technologies to facilitate its operation. In light
of this, the first part of the dissertation constructs a theoretical framework which allows
for an examination of the role of the Internet as an information provider in a global
arena where the forces of the nation state and big business are able to influence Internet
development. Libraries are incorporated into this framework as providers of access to
information via the Internet. The rights of library users to access information on the
Internet are examined from a human rights perspective which enables the dissertation to
assess differences in freedom of access to information on the Internet around the world.
The second part of the dissertation empirically examines barriers to Internet-accessible
information resources in light of this framework, using a combination of survey and
interview work to expose differences in levels of Internet access and development
across countries. These differences are then analysed to address the extent to which
access barriers exist on a worldwide scale, as well as the extent to which they affect
libraries as providers of Internet access. It is argued that as Internet infrastructure and
use within a country develops, more obstacles to accessing information become
apparent, and the extent to which libraries are able to overcome these obstacles is
dependent on their ability to influence decision-making processes at a number of levels,
from the local community up to levels of international governance.
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Contents

Page

Introduction 13
• The PhD project and the institutional setting 13
• Brief characteristics of the Internet in 2004 14
• Formulating the Problem 15
• The structure of the dissertation 19
• Methodology 21

Chapter 1 – The ‘Information Society’ and the Nation State 33
• The informatisation of society 35
• The ‘Network Society’ and informationalism 37
• Computer-mediated communication 43
• The Nation State and Modernity 47
• The role of information in the nation state 53
• Surveillance and its risks 57

Chapter 2 - Globalisation and the Promise of the Internet 63
• Global capitalism and the informational economy 65
• Alternative drivers of globalisation 67
• The concept of simultaneous globalisation and fragmentation 70
• The promise of the Internet 75
• Inequality and control 81
• The end of neutrality 84

Chapter 3 – Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Access
to Information and Libraries 91
• Freedom of expression 92
• Freedom of access to information 95
• A library framework for freedom of access to information 96
• Unhampered access and censorship 98
• Developmental differences in access to information 103
• Cultural differences in access to information 105
• The global library community and freedom of access to information 106

Chapter 4 - The Effects of the Internet on Freedom of
Access to Information in Libraries 113
• Access to the Internet 113
• Access to Internet-accessible information resources 119
• New forms of access and their effects on libraries 121
• The extent of Internet access in libraries worldwide 129
• The Digital Divide 146
• A route to basic access for libraries 149

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Chapter 5 - The Filtering and Blocking of Internet-accessible
Information Resources 153
• How do filters work? 155
• Problems with filtering software 160
• Filters and libraries 163
• Filtering and freedom of access to information around the world 165
• The extent of Internet filtering in the international Library community 172

Chapter 6 – Data Retention and the Surveillance of Internet Use 179
• Digital surveillance 181
• September 11th, the Internet and the PATRIOT Act 184
• Global anti-terror legislation and Internet surveillance worldwide 186
• Internet data retention and libraries – an investigation 192

Chapter 7 – The Commodification of Information and the
Increasing Corporatism of the Internet 199
• The increasing corporatism of the Internet environment 202
• Commodification of information on the Internet 203
• The commons 205
• Libraries and threats to the commons 209
• Copyright and intellectual property in the digital age 210
• Patents, open-source and innovation 218
• Media ownership of Internet infrastructure 221
• Advertising, the general intrusion of market forces and
the consequences of private sector involvement 225
• Financial barriers to Internet use in libraries – an investigation 232

Conclusion 237
• Summary of critical questions and their answers 239
• Major research findings in light of the theoretical framework 242
• A model of Internet development and access barriers 246
• How can libraries overcome barriers to Internet-accessible information
resources? 254
• Perspectives on the research 261
• Research implications and future investigation 263

Bibliography, references and emails 267

Appendix 1: Questionnaire for global survey 303

Appendix 2: List of interviewees and roundtable attendants 311

Appendix 3: Sample mailing lists and third party Sources 313

Appendix 4: Transcript from the Internet Manifesto Guidelines
Session, Kampala 7th July 2004 315

Appendix 5: List of abbreviations 321

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List of Tables and Figures

Tables:

Table 1: Continental breakdown of questionnaire respondents (p28)

Table 2: Regional adoption of the Internet Manifesto (p109)

Table 3: A ‘Multi-faceted concept of access’ and ‘Real Access’ (p118)

Table 4: Global Internet users May 2004 (p128)

Table 5: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Africa (p131)

Table 6: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Asia (p133)

Table 7: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Europe (p136)

Table 8: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Latin America and the
Caribbean (p139)

Table 9: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Northern America (p141)

Table 10: Library Internet access and overall Internet use – Oceania (p142)

Table 11: Distribution of countries in categories of Internet access – Public Libraries
(p144)

Table 12: Distribution of countries in categories of Internet access – Research Libraries
(p145)

Table 13: Features of Internet filters (p156)

Table 14: Countries where libraries keep records of users’ Internet activities (p194)

Table 15: Libraries keeping Internet user records and freedom of expression (p196)

Figures:

Figure 1: Giddens’ ‘Institutional Dimensions of Modernity’ (p60)

Figure 2: Giddens’ ‘Dimensions of Globalisation’ (p60)

Figure 3: Lessig’s ‘Levels of Control in Four Differing Arenas’ (p85)

Figure 4a: Library associations that have adopted the IFLA Internet Manifesto (p107)

Figure 4b: Library associations that have not adopted the IFLA Internet Manifesto
(p108)

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Figure 5: Country with high levels of Internet access (p126)

Figure 6: Country with low levels of Internet access (p127)

Figure 7: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Global (p130)

Figure 8: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Africa (p130)

Figure 9: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Asia (p132)

Figure 10: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Europe (p135)

Figure 11: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Latin America and
the Caribbean (p138)

Figure 12: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Northern America
(p141)

Figure 13: Extent of Internet access in public and research libraries – Oceania (p1412)

Figure 14: Sample ‘S’ curve of diffusion (p147)

Figure 15: Normalised ‘S’ curve of diffusion (p147)

Figure 16: Stratified ‘S’ curve of diffusion (p148)

Figure 17: Downstream Internet filtering (p158)

Figure 18: Upstream Internet filtering (p159)

Figure 19: Is the library Association in favour of filtering information on library Internet
terminals? (p173)

Figure 20: Is the use of filtering software widespread in your country’s libraries? (p174)

Figure 21: Motivations for the use of filtering software (p175)

Figure 22: Do libraries keep records of Internet use? (p193)

Figure 23: Does keeping records affect freedom of expression? (p195)

Figure 24: Is Internet access free of charge in libraries? (p233)

Figure 25: Has extra funding been made available for Internet access in the library
system? (p234)

Figure 26: What makes searching for information on the Internet easier for users?
(p247)

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