How Libraries Are Leading the Way to Digital Equity
Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021.
Across Franklin County, which surrounds the city of Columbus, Ohio, civic-minded partners from government, business, education, and the nonprofit world have been collaborating on the newly-timely topic of digital equity. For years people have known that broadband connectivity, which in theory could equalize opportunities, has in many cases had the opposite effect. The past year of pandemic has dramatized the importance of fairer internet access—and the surprising new roles that American libraries are assuming.
This is a report about how that drama is playing out in one sizable American city, and what its lessons indicate for the country as a whole.
We all understand the costs of digital inequity better now that we have seen first-hand how the pandemic has affected the digital requisites of people’s lives. Pick a topic: the virtual education of students, access to hospitals and health care, securing appointments for vaccinations, applying for unemployment benefits, PPP, or CARES relief. The list is long and personal.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library system (CML) has been an important driver in long-term planning for the digital life of citizens before, during, and what will one day be life after COVID-19. And for the library itself, understanding their current roles and imagining their future roles in the entire scheme is part of their own particular effort.
Over the past few months, I have spoken by phone with three managers of branch libraries in Columbus,, which also works . We also used ArcGIS software from , the geospatial mapping company based in Redlands, California, to create three interactive maps that offer another perspective of the digital culture of libraries. (Note: Esri is a long-time partner and supporter of our use of maps to promote “geo-journalism,” dating back to my husband, Jim’s, advocacy of advanced mapping literacy for journalists at .)
