April 11, 2017
The theme for 2017 National Library Week is “Libraries Transform.” For any who has entered a library before, it is not hard to imagine how free access to both public space and information tools can make small, or sometimes large, impacts on lives. They are valued social spaces where people search the internet, prepare a resume,…
April 3, 2017
Partnership is a core tenet of TASCHA’s Gates-funded Global Libraries legacy work. With the work steaming ahead, TASCHA has invested a great deal of time thinking through how we will work together with our legacy partners, and with others — aligned organizations, funding agencies, libraries, and community members. Our focus was on the partnership of…
March 31, 2017
Are you interested in creating transformation in public libraries? Do your ideas about how technology can be used for social change keep you up at night? Are you looking for an opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary group of people on issues that will impact both the library and international development fields? The Technology &…
February 2, 2017
Libraries are … essential to the functioning of a democratic society … libraries are the great symbols of the freedom of the mind. — Franklin D. Roosevelt When you think of your community’s public library, do you picture a political nexus that holds the power to influence the future of our country? If not, we don’t blame…
January 11, 2017
In November 2016, TASCHA Research Analyst Chris Rothschild and I visited Kenya to explore working with EIFL and Kenya National Library Services (KNLS) to develop mobile information literacy curriculum and training for Kenya’s public library staff and patrons. Our visit was a jam-packed week full of meetings with EIFL and KNLS staff, various individuals and…
October 5, 2016
Three regional libraries – officially called Regional Study and Resource Centers (RSRCs) – designed to promote a “learning culture” through services and activities, opened two years ago in regions across Namibia as an outcome of the Compact between the Government of Namibia and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The Technology and Social Change Group (TASCHA), contracted…
September 27, 2016
Access to information is a critical tenet of successful community and international development, and in many places around the world, public libraries play a vital role in providing access that is universally and freely available. With this in mind, the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions…
Myanmar is undergoing unprecedented changes — politically, culturally, digitally — all while moving from a highly-censored information environment to embracing openness and freedom of information. The country’s digital revolution includes leaping over numerous “digital divides” propelled by the widespread use of smartphones and growing pervasiveness of the internet. TASCHA co-sponsored a Myanmar information symposium just…
June 23, 2016
TASCHA’s work with public libraries is well-known throughout most of the world, ranging from the Public Access Landscape Study, which was the first attempt to identify and describe public libraries and other Internet public access centers and their services in 25 countries, to the Global Impact Study, which looked at the effect of libraries and other public access centers and their services on the users and non-users in eight countries. But with the selection of TASCHA as one of the three Legacy Partners by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Program, along with the United States Public Library Association (PLA) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), more work by TASCHA in the United States will be seen in the coming years.
April 23, 2016
Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent more and more time in the “innovation” space, attending conferences and workshops, speaking with leaders in the public library field, visiting innovation hubs from Africa to South America, doing a bit of research on innovation spaces, and otherwise trying to grapple with what this all means for international development generally (and as it pertains to all of TASCHA’s work), and public libraries in particular (for our public library research).
