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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the historical development of libraries in South Africa against a backdrop of poverty and social inequality. In particular, this paper illustrates how the development of libraries in South Africa both reflected and influenced information poverty and has as its goal to increase awareness of the role of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty.

The information in this paper is based on doctoral research completed by the author who investigated the role of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty in South Africa. The methodology for the research included two case studies, interviews, examination of library records, and observation. An extensive review of the professional literature and recorded histories provided imperative context for that research and this paper.

Findings indicate that libraries can play an important role in the alleviation of information poverty in South Africa. Libraries are underutilized in this role and in order to increase their capacity in addressing information poverty, one should consider the historical circumstances behind the dispossession of library services. Understanding the development of libraries in South Africa and sociopolitical ramifications of this development can encourage and inform greater participation of libraries in the alleviation of information poverty in the future.

This paper compiles the work and findings of previous studies on the history of South African libraries. The information provided here offers an accessible and efficient history of libraries in South Africa. In so doing, it provides context that is invaluable to the understanding of how the development of libraries throughout time can have sociopolitical effects on the people and their circumstances. The paper also encourages increased understanding of the value and purpose of libraries in combating information poverty in South Africa.

In the globalized world the movement of scholars facilitates the global flow of knowledge and supports the pillars of the knowledge economy as defined by the World Bank. But not all academics are born equal: African scholars face significant barriers with regard to freedom of movement. The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes that African scholars typically have to undertake to participate in the global academic community, to identify some of the potential difficulties in these processes and to articulate the moral concerns that arise from these processes.

Both secondary data analysis to illustrate and support the arguments as well as anecdotal evidence to provide specific examples of African scholars' experiences are used.

Justice is viewed as one of the most important virtues regulating the movement of people in the global knowledge society. It is used as a normative instrument to argue that the international community has a moral and legal responsibility to create a more flexible and fair structure to enable knowledge to flow more freely between African scholars and their counterparts in Europe and North America.

A Global Knowledge Treaty is proposed that will allow African scholars to travel more freely in pursuit of new knowledge and opportunities and platforms to share their knowledge is proposed as a potential solution that seeks to strike a fair balance between rights of nation‐states and the rights of individuals to freedom of movement.

The value of the paper lies in that it highlights a topic of contemporary importance in the knowledge economy that has far‐reaching implications for African scholarship in particular and education and development in African countries in general.

New social discovery systems have social‐type Web 2.0 features that allow users to enhance the content of bibliographic records by adding their own tags, ratings, and reviews. One of the primary underlying principles of cataloguing is that catalogue records be designed with the user in mind, i.e. user convenience. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the principle of user convenience and social discovery systems.

A review of the literature and codes of ethics of associations of information professions was undertaken to examine: the ethical dimensions of creating catalogue records to reflect user convenience, the relationship between culture and user convenience, and how social discovery tools can facilitate the creation of interactive and flexible catalogue records that reflect the culture(s) and needs of the library communities in which they exist.

Social discovery systems can address the primary barriers to creating catalogue records that meet user convenience: determining and reflecting the needs and cultural warrant of the users, and maintaining the quality and integrity of the catalogue records.

Social discovery systems can serve as a bridge between cataloguers' desire to create accurate catalogue records that conform to accepted cataloguing standards, and their ethical imperative to ensure that these records meet the needs of the clients.

The findings of this study pave the way for further research into how user‐contributed metadata allow clients to express their needs and cultural warrant and to interact with one another and library staff.

Digital collections are becoming more commonplace at libraries, archives and museums around the world, creating potential for improved accessibility to information that may otherwise remain hidden and further support for intellectual exploration. As a result of the growing potential for digital collections to inform and influence, the conversation surrounding ethics and digital collections needs to be continually examined and adapted as technologies evolve, user expectations change and digital information plays an increasing role in our everyday lives. In this context, this paper presents an overview of multifaceted ethical realities that impact the how, why and what digital information is created, accessed and preserved.

Written from the perspective of a digital collections librarian, this paper relies on existing research in presenting ethical considerations and complements that research with professional observations in providing subsequent reflections on addressing challenges in the age of digital information.

There are and should be considerations given to not only what information is contained in a given collection, but also how that information is selected, accessed and consumed by the public. The conclusions offered are designed to provoke reflection on the evolving and interconnected nature of information and ethics in the context of digital collections.

Information ethics is multifaceted, with one of those facets relating directly to digital collections. This paper demonstrates that digital collections are more complex than simply a collection of digitized documents and photographs. As the field of information management continually evolves and adapts, so, too, do the ethical realizations identified in this paper, all of which go beyond the (virtual) walls of a library, archive or museum, and carry the potential to have a long-term impact concerning information and its integrity, equity and access.

This paper aims to investigate how public libraries in Cameroon contribute to the achievement of goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is “peace, justice and strong institutions”.

The methodology used is observation, talks with the librarians of public libraries from different regions of the country. Authorities in charge of this domain in Cameroon, that is the Ministry of Arts and Culture. Statistics from these different actors have been collected and used for the study, as well as those available through the National Institute of statistics.

The participation of public libraries in the implementation of goal 16 in Cameroon is remarkable, even if they lack substantial budgets for the achievement of their goals and rely partly on donations. The increasingly widespread use of information and communication technologies, as well as certain paying activities, partly compensates for this lack. Democracy, living together, access to employment and self-employment through the dissemination of information and animation are effective tools that public libraries implement. Users from different origins can gather and discuss freely on national issues. Public libraries are sometimes involved as mediators in the resolution of some social conflicts.

In a period were seeking peace, justice and strong institutions is one of the main national issues discussed in Cameroon, the study provides more visibility to both the authorities and the potential users on the important role played by public libraries in the resolution of national issues.

The study determines the different actors of a national policy in the framework of the creation, and the promotion of the public libraries and their respective roles for a more concerted and better-oriented action.

Reports on the conference, "Ethics of Electronic Information in the 21st Century 20032, held in Tennessee, October 2003.

Outlines some of the presentations at the Electronic information in the 21st century (EEI21) symposium at the University of Memphis in October 2004. EEI21 is an internationally recognized ethics meeting attracting scholars, practitioners and students interested in a wide range of information ethics and related topics. The EEI21 tradition of thematic focus areas continued with intellectual property rights as the special topic for 2004.