Information relevance, equality and material security ‐ the Kenyan experience

The article examines reasons why libraries do not provide information relevant to the satisfaction of material needs. Issues examined in the context of global poverty include: what is relevant information? the relation between social poverty and information poverty; users and their information needs; the class struggle and its influence on information provision; content and language of information. It concludes that the question of relevance of information is related to the question of equality in the distribution of information between different classes. There cannot be information equality unless there is equality in ownership of economic resources and political power. The information struggle for equality and relevance is directly related to the struggle for economic and political equality. The challenge is to make all working people librarians, and to make all librarians workers. Only then will real power in the information field return where it belongs ‐ to the people. Only then will questions of relevance and equality be resolved.