By definition, library resources are accessible only to the literate. Amongst aspiring readers and the literate, there are two kinds of learners: those who want a classroom (an organized environment) and those who want a tool (and are self-motivated). If outsiders are welcomed (not to be assumed as a given), then for those who want a classroom, we can be teachers. For those who want a tool, we can be librarians.

In the modern context, a library may be or may become something very different than what it has been in the past. Perhaps it is best to be thinking of the library as a combination of content and various mechanisms to assist people in finding information that they are seeking.

In remote areas of the world where books are often in short supply and literacy is not a given, and taking it to the simplest level, consider these as three content components which might consitutute a "library" or information center:

1. An existing collection: information that is accessible either through electronic data stored locally (on disk either in advance or cached from previously accessed external sources ...) or by using the web. For this component, a key ingredient is to provide simple mechanisms for tracking down appropriate information. (While web search engines are the obvious answer, there may be ways to become more responsive to the needs of a semi-literate constituency. See Taxonomies: description logics below.)
   
2. Locally generated content: a local ISP, just like the one in the big city
   
3. Content created locally as part of a regional or global information set: For example, local groups participate in gathering data about the flora and fauna of the Amazon basin and by posting their data into a common database in an organized fashion, they contribute to the understanding of a global resource.
   

Library / Information Center design elements:

• Literacy education as prerequisite
  
• Language / Translation
  
• Taxonomies / Category schemes
  
• People: Consider the concept of Guides, as employed at about.com.
  
• Database Framework, searchability
  
• Monitoring of important community and environmental phenomena. Example, Conabio.
  
• Relevant Technology:
  
  • The Library appliance
    
  • The Web. We want to concern our selves with its limitations: mostly English, mostly superficial, mostly commercial, mostly advanced (assumes prior knowledge). Are there online courses teaching basic reading? Or is this still found only in textbooks?
    
  • Wireless WANs?
    
  • Voice synthesizers?
    
  • Multi-media
    
  • Caching technology
    
  
  
• Feedback built into the system (See Guides, above)
  
• Copyright challenges if material is cached
  
• Training ICT Specialists (librarians)
  

International Reading Association

World Literacy Map

Reading Science
Examples of teachers' guides ... [appropriate to have in many languages]

International Visual Literacy Association
IVLA was formed for the purpose of providing education, instruction and training in modes of visual communication and the application through the concept of visual literacy to individuals, groups, organizations, and to the public in general.

World Literacy Crusade

Literacy Online
Sponsored by International Literacy Institute and National Center on Adult Literacy

Laubach Literacy
Teaching the World to Read; Women in Literacy

SIL International and Ethnologue
Languages of the World

Top 100 Languages by Population

What Help Do Users Need?: Taxonomies for On-line Information Needs & Access Methods
"What kind of questions do novice and expert users actually ask when using a system?' All the fancy formatting, navigational ease and ease of access in the world will not be of much use if the information contained in the help system is not the information that users seek."

The Ontological Nature of Subject Taxonomies
"Subject based classification is an important part of information retrieval, and has a long history in libraries, where a subject taxonomy was used to determine the location of books on the shelves. We have been studying the notion of subject itself, in order to determine a formal ontology of subject for a large scale digital library card catalog system. Deep analysis reveals a lot of ambiguity regarding the usage of subjects in existing systems and terminology, and we attempt to formalize these notions into a single framework for representing it."

Peter F. Patel-Schneider
My research interests center around description logics. I'm currently interested in using description logics for interactively gathering information from a user and using description logics in database integration. In general, I am interested in making description logics useful in applications, as well as the theory of description logics.

The Environmental Literacy Council
... is a non-profit organization established to bring together scientists, economists, educators, and other experts to inform environmental studies. • The Council builds on the work of its predecessor organization, the Independent Commission on Environmental Education, and its report, Are We Building Environmental Literacy? This study found that environmental education often fails to introduce students to scientific and economic concepts needed to understand environmental concerns. • This web site is intended to help students and teachers study environmental issues by guiding them to the best resources available on the Internet.

World Libraries on the Information Superhighway: Preparing for the Challenges of the New Millennium