DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN NIGERIA: ROLES OF LIBRARIES AND OTHER INFORMATION SERVICE PROVIDING INSTITUTIONS

Authors

Florence Onyeisi Otonekwu, University Library, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, NigeriaFollow
Janet Titilayo Oludipe, University Library, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, NigeriaFollow
Grace Olabisi Babafemi, University Library, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, NigeriaFollow
Akawu Lami, Abubakar Gimba Library, Ibrahim Babangida Badamosi University, Lapi, Nigers State, NigeriaFollow
Tunde Toyese Oyedokun, Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, NigeriaFollow

Date of this Version

Summer 1-4-2019

Abstract

Social exclusion is more or less a deliberate act of negligence, wherefore group of people in society are disengaged from mainstream culture because of their background, geographical location and other demographical characteristics that demarcate them from others. Social exclusion is an omnibus term, which encompasses many multidimensional social variables such as inequalities of opportunity, lack of access to basic amenities, digital divide and many more. However, for the sake of this current study, emphasis would be on digital divide existing between urban and rural settlers, in respect of their accessibility to information in today digital age. This study is a literature review that sought to enumerate the roles of information providing institutions in curbing and integrating the digital divides. Observation from the literature underscored poor information infrastructure in the rural area as the major causes of the digital divide between them and the urban area. Another impediment was because the vast majority of rural settlers are low-income earner and most are not literate, therefore, they are poverty driven and access to internet connectivity become luxury rather than a necessity of life. The aforementioned impediments necessitate the need for information providing institutions such as the libraries, information centers, archival institutions, museums, and others to shift focus from just being a knowledge storehouse to more of a learning center for information literacy.