Acesso à internet em bibliotecas públicas da Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte: caminhos para o desenvolvimento da inclusão digital

Abstract

The research starts from the importance of the public library as a trainer of subjects qualified for the use of information available in the digital environment. It addresses the broadening of the exercise of citizenship by electronic media, characterized as digital citizenship, and the obstacles caused by this modality of access to activities due to the high rates of digital exclusion of the Brazilian population. The Internet is characterized as an important means of increasing access to information and citizen exercise, but requires skills for a browsing that can meet the informational needs of the user. In this sense, initiatives to promote digital inclusion are necessary to broaden the exercise of digital citizenship. The public library is an institution that is able to provide this inclusion to electronic media, enabling users to search and use information independently. The purpose of this study was to identify the presence of activities related to digital inclusion that develop abilities to search for and use information in digital media and contribute to the availability of computers with access to the internet by the municipal public libraries of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte the exercise of citizenship in this environment. Based on the assumption that actions aimed at the development of citizenship should be anchored in public policies established by the State, a documentary research was carried out on the actions related to digital inclusion elaborated in the federal scope, in the State of Minas Gerais and municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. After the identification and analysis of these policies, a semi-structured interview was conducted with managers of municipal public libraries in the region. The objective was to identify the managers understanding of these guidelines and to analyze the possible actions, as verified in the service provided by the libraries. The results show that the municipal public libraries of the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte offer initiatives related to digital inclusion, however, they include aspects related to technical inclusion, providing access to the internet and some possibilities for developing skills in the handling of computers. They do not, however, reach the cognitive dimension of the development of informational skills that includes the autonomy and critical positioning for the independent use of ICT.