E-Democracy and E-Government: How Will These Affect Libraries?
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 472 848 IR 058 555 AUTHOR Pare, Richard TITLE E-Democracy and E-Government: How Will These Affect Libraries? PUB DATE 2002-08-00 NOTE 7p.; In: Libraries for Life: Democracy, Diversity, Delivery. IFLA Council and General Conference: Conference Programme and Proceedings (68th, Glasgow, Scotland, August 18-24, 2002); see IR 058 549. AVAILABLE FROM For full text: http://www.ifla.org. PUB TYPE Opinion Papers (120) Speeches/Meeting Papers (150) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Access to Information; Electronic Libraries; Federal Government; *Federal Programs; Foreign Countries; *Government Libraries; Information Sources; *Internet; *Library Role; *Online Systems IDENTIFIERS *Canada; *Parliamentary Libraries ABSTRACT In the late 1980s, when few Canadian citizens had Internet access, federal departments and agencies in Canada were already preparing for the future by putting information and documentation online. This paper outlines several government-sponsored programs--SchoolNet, the Canadian Investment. Fund, Community Access Program, Canada Foundation for Innovation, VolNet, and the Smart Communities Program--that have ensured that Canadians, their communities, their libraries and their schools have quick access to the Internet. Discussion then moves to efforts to promote e-democracy, including Internet sites that feature a wide variety of material to keep voters informed, email addresses for voters to contact elected officials, campaigning over the Internet, and electronic voting. The paper then focuses on the impact of e-government and e-democracy on libraries, and specifically on how e-government and e-democracy are affecting the Canadian Library of Parliament. The Intraparl internal web, site, online catalogs, electronic news monitoring service (PARLMedia), the LEGISinfo research tool, and the electronic document series known as TIPS are each described briefly, followed by projections for the future.
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