11 May 2001

Your right to information...

Inaugural Information Rights Day, 14 May 2001

The Australian Library and Information Association has established Information Rights Day to focus attention on the democratic and equal right to information for individual and societal benefit, and to showcase the vital role of library and information specialists in the provision of quality access to and use of information resources. The inaugural Information Rights Day will be celebrated on Monday 14 May.

'Information Rights Day is an opportunity to support access to information and to increase public awareness of information policy issues such as: equitable access to information - the information 'rich' and the information 'poor'; censorship and copyright; access to government information; privacy concerns; and information literacy.' said ALIA president, Alan Bundy.

'The internet revolution has opened up new opportunities for the discovery and delivery of information. However, it also has the potential to create a new underclass of information poor - those who don't have access to the new technologies.

'Libraries are ideally situated to bridge this 'digital divide'. A recent survey conducted by the Australian Library and Information Association revealed that public libraries, along with the national, state and territory libraries, provide more than 2000 public access internet access points.'

Information Rights Day is supported by a number of organisations, including the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Society of Archivists, Friends of Libraries Australia and the Australian Civil Liberties Union.

Sharan Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said in support of Information Rights Day:

'The ACTU is pleased that the critical importance in our society of control over both private and public information is being recognised on Information Rights Day. As citizens in a democracy, and particularly as employees in the workplace, we increasingly need our rights to privacy and our freedoms of access to information to be protected.'

The Association has also prepared a proclamation for Information Rights Day.