On October 3 the Beyond Access Conference 2012 will take place in Washington DC (USA) in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Theme of this one-day event is "Local Alternatives for Global Development: Rediscovering Libraries".

The aim is to explore the “how” of information access, and its connection to development across the spectrum rooted in local priorities and partnerships. The event brings public libraries into discussions of development for the first time.

Go to the registration page on the Beyond Access website.

Programme

USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah will join the 33rd President of Chile Ricardo Lagos for a candid armchair discussion on Development in the 21 Century: Information, Technology and Local Institutions.

An afternoon armchair discussion on The Future of Information and Development, including:

• Esther Dyson, Chairwoman of EDventure Holdings and leading technology entrepreneur
• Jon Gosier, Co-founder MetaLayer, TED Senior Fellow Alum, and one of CNN’s top African tech voices
• Suneet Singh Tuli, Founder, Datawind
• Moderated by Deborah Jacobs, Global Libraries Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Libraries untapped resource for development

Beyond Access aims to form a community from among the world’s most innovative public libraries that are working to address development challenges in their communities.

Most countries around the world, regardless of their size or level of development have public libraries. At a time of tight budgets, libraries offer a more efficient, smarter way of bringing forth development. The Beyond Access community will demonstrate on a global stage how libraries are an untapped resource for development.