The Third Wave and Third World Libraries

Abstract

Considers aspects of the “third wave ” in technology — the establishment of linked information networks — in the developing countries. Since governments are the financial base for library and information modernization in the Third World, it is natural that resource allocation has moved toward science and technology, the usual government priorities. In India the National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT), created in 1977, is a model for third wave activity: it coordinates the work of national agencies such as INSDOC (Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre) and DESIDOC (Defense Scientific Information and Documentation Centre). The work of NISSAT has been encumbered by many problems. In India and in most developing countries, electrical power is unreliable. And the cooperating libraries often lack adequate cataloging of their resources, so that merging their holdings into large databases is impossible. Government support has proved to be uncertain, despite good intentions. Whether the coming information society will benefit many persons in the third world is questionable. At present nearly 90 percent of the data flow via satellite systems is generated by transnational corporations, and is restricted in access. The prospect of further divided societies is disturbing: information users and non–users. However, it is possible for non–users (mostly those in rural areas) to benefit from the third wave, because technology offers the possibility of imaging media in the service of education. It is proposed that this path is the one likely to be most productive for public libraries in developing countries.