Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship

A flourishing digital economy needs broadband access and content relevant to people’s lives. This paper describes how Electronic Resources Australia (ERA: http://era.nla.gov.au/) was established to deliver digital content. Through national site licensing sponsored by the National Library of Australia, and with an opt-in subscription model, more than 8.5 million Australians now have access to a broad range of authoritative databases through nearly 1,200 participating libraries. The next challenge is to secure high speed broadband access across the nation—and not just in metropolitan areas.