New Millennium Library & SMART Community Virtual Connected Community Network (VCCNetwork) Community Digital Nervous System — connecting Canadians
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040720 |
| Date | 01 February 1999 |
| Published date | 01 February 1999 |
| Pages | 62-67 |
| Author | C.K. Tan,Doug Hull |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
New Millennium
Library & SMART
Community
Virtual Connected
Community Network
(VCCNetwork)
Community Digital
Nervous System -
connecting Canadians
By C. K. Tan President, Avita Technolo-
gies Corporation and Doug
Hull,
Director General, Information Highway
Applications Branch, Industry Canada
Libraries and other public access points need
technologies to enable people to effectively
find information, communicate with it and
conduct transactions (particularly on a local
level) as well as create ways to generate new
revenues to offset the costs of serving the
public electronically. In the province of
Ontario, Canada the Network 2000 Virtual
Library Project is working to achieve this. It
enables libraries and their patrons to
communicate with each other using a simple,
standard interface. It also gives libraries the
opportunity to offer any number of community
services via the Internet, including services
that will bring in revenue using e-commerce
payment methods.
Libraries everywhere are trying to keep up with
technology. Their resources are constrained, yet
they must find and pay for on-line solutions to
serve their communities, while continuing to
maintain traditional services and facilities. It's a
constant game of catch-up.
In Canada, however, libraries are seeing an
opportunity to become technology leaders. The
opportunity is being presented by the combined
initiatives of government and the private sector.
Governments in Canada, as elsewhere in the world,
recognize that in the Information Age there is a
critical need for people in all social and economic
circumstances to have access to electronic infor-
mation and the tools to use it. Governments of
Canada and Ontario, its largest province, have
combined their efforts to put programs in place to
make Internet access universal. But universal
access, however essential, is only one step in
connecting Canadians. Libraries and other public
access points need technologies to enable people to
effectively find information, communicate with it
and conduct transactions, as well as ways to
generate new revenues to offset the costs of serv-
ing the public electronically.
In the private sector, the development of the
Internet as a medium for commerce has been
hindered by chaotic information overload. Most
business is done locally, but people often find the
Internet a clumsy and time-consuming tool for
local information access. Geographically organ-
ized on-line community content is sparse,
inconsistent, and frequently out of
date
and inaccu-
rate.
All of these problems are being addressed by the
public and private sectors through initiatives that
are converging primarily on one institution - the
library - as the focal point for networks delivering
relevant, community-based information and
commerce.
How is this convergence taking place in Canada?
Through a partnership of visions - two paths that
crossed each other at a critical time.
One path was embarked upon by the Canadian
government.
Connecting Canadians
In the Speech from the Throne on September 23,
1997,
the government stated that it wants to make
Canada the most connected nation in the world,
and its citizens the most sophisticated users of
information technology. Prime Minister Jean
Chretien announced the Connecting Canadians
strategy to give Canada an advanced information
infrastructure and, in so doing, build a stronger
economy and a stronger society.
62 — VINE 115
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