Information Redlining: The Urgency to Close the Digital Access and Literacy Divide and the Role of Libraries as Lead Interveners

Abstract

This article positions equitable access to information as a matter of social justice and questions how the library and information science sector might work more intentionally and systemically to close the pervasive information retrieval and navigation gaps that disproportionately disenfranchize lower-income and/or majority Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Though much attention since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has rightfully been paid to the need for more robust broadband infrastructure in the United States, this article links the persistent disparities in digital literacy instruction, possession of digital devices, and access to consistent wireless internet technology as critical and profoundly race and class-biased components of connectivity. Hall describes the intentional/unintentional lack of recognition or inaction regarding whole groups of people being denied this access as “information redlining,” and suggests that not only can libraries play a leading role in disrupting it, but also that libraries are the essential link in any comprehensive national response.