Remote Australian Library System Receives Award for Teaching Technology Literacy Skills Through Preservation of Culture

SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative today presented its 2007 Access to Learning Award of $1 million to the Northern Territory Library (NTL), a regional public library system based in Darwin, Australia. The award honors NTL’s innovative approach to bringing computer and Internet technology to remote indigenous communities, which opens up a world of information and knowledge that can help improve people’s lives. Microsoft, a Global Libraries initiative partner, will donate US $224,000 in software and technology training curriculum to upgrade the organization’s 300 library computers.

The majority of the Northern Territory’s indigenous population lives in extremely isolated areas with very limited services and infrastructure, poor health and economic conditions, and educational levels that are far below national averages. Through its Libraries and Knowledge Centers program, NTL’s community libraries are providing information and opportunities through free access to computers connected to the Internet. NTL also provides computer and Internet training, so people can learn to use technology to pursue education and employment, use government services, learn about valuable health information, and exchange ideas with people across the world.

“The community libraries are helping to address the social and economic inequities indigenous communities face,” said Jo McGill, director of NTL. “By connecting people to information and technology, we are giving them the opportunity to improve their lives and participate more fully in their own community and the world in new ways.”

NTL’s groundbreaking Our Story database is central to helping indigenous communities increase their technology and literacy skills. Our Story allows local people to preserve and share their cultural heritage by archiving digital recordings and photographs on library computers. With training on how to store current and historical photographs, oral histories, songs in their native language, indigenous art, and videos, NTL’s community libraries are teaching people the skills needed to use information technology. NTL also provides jobs to indigenous people that run the libraries. In turn, these local library staff members then train the community to use Our Story.

The Our Story database has become a source of pride for many communities and attracts an increasing number of people to the community libraries. Once at the library, community members can benefit from other services offered—computers connected to the Internet, technology skills training, books for readers of all ages, educational toys for toddlers, newspapers, and other learning materials.

“Computers and the Internet are powerful tools that offer unprecedented access to information of all kinds, and provide opportunities for people to improve their social and economic well being,” said Martha Choe, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative. “The Northern Territory Library is showing the world that people with very limited resources can use technology to increase their quality of life, strengthen their communities, and find new opportunities.“

In the Northern Territory’s indigenous communities, the library usually provides the only Internet connection for hundreds of miles. In areas served by the libraries, there is limited telephone service and often no bookstores, secondary schools, or even post offices for people to find information. To reach the nearest services, people often travel a great distance by four-wheel drive vehicle or airplane. Library computers connected to the Internet can help people use resources and information such as online banking service, email to communicate with distant family members, local and national news, government resources such as up-to-date information on road conditions and safety and cyclone warnings, and even Australian Rules Football scores.

Sebastian Pwerrerl Walker, a regular community library patron in the town of Anmatjere, was hired as a library officer after spending many hours at the library building his technology skills. Today, he is using Google Earth to create a map of indigenous communities in the Northern Territory which allows library visitors to see satellite images of places where they have lived as well as sacred cultural sites. “Many people in our communities have connections all across the Territory. We've all grown up and moved around to many different places,” said Walker. “Our old people used to live in the bush and this technology lets us see places that are hard to visit by car. This is a new way of learning about country.”

The Northern Territory will use the Access to Learning Award funds to increase training opportunities for its community library officers and library users, and expand Our Story to more communities. NTL will also expand its early literacy program with the goal of helping indigenous children become better prepared to enter formal schooling. Content from the Our Story database will be used to make electronic books using local stories, images, and people. Microsoft will support NTL in working to better share information about its services and content to a global audience through the Internet.