CILIPS Joins Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter!
CILIPS has become a signatory of Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter, run by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and supported by the Scottish government. It exists to support, guide and recognise best practice in digital inclusion work across Scotland, and the five pledges are about structuring digital inclusion in a way that makes it easier to explain, discuss, and share with colleagues and organisations. Digital inclusion as defined by the United Nations reads, “equitable, meaningful, and safe access to use, lead, and design of digital technologies, services, and associated opportunities for everyone, everywhere.”
As the professional body representing Librarians and Information professionals, we felt it was crucial to signify and solidify our commitment to improving digital inclusion amongst our team, in our membership and across the sector more widely. Libraries are hubs of digital inclusion, with their own remit of providing technology and digital literacy support, and importantly too, instilling confidence in their patrons to engage with the digital no matter their prior experience. This commitment to digital inclusion means that we will continue to support our nation’s professionals to carry out this work with as much support, ease and confidence as possible.
Not only does the Charter mention digital inclusion, it further references the Ethical considerations of this work. The webpage reads:
The Charter has also been examined through a digital ethics lens to consider the Ethical Digital Nation approach for Scotland. The pledge commitments will support organisations to deliver ethical and sustainable digital inclusion. In doing so, Charter signatories can become responsive to rapidly changing technology whilst maintaining transparency and respect for human rights.
The five pledges are; Understanding digital inclusion and how it impacts the people we work with, Approach which oversees a commitment to delivering on digital inclusion across our organisation based on our understanding of need, Resource is a commitment to identifying and utilising the appropriate resources, Partnership is all about working in genuine partnership to promote and advance digital inclusion, and finally, Community is all about contributing towards a wider conversation, developing a sense of community and being part of something bigger- because digital inclusion is everyone’s responsibility.
To read more about this Charter or its pledges, and sign up please click here.