Upstream & Downstream:Equity and the American Library Association. A Librarian at the Kitchen Table.No. 355.

"A call to reset the research and policy agenda of information technology and social inequality provides a simple metaphor that helps frame discussion. "Downstream" issues relate to literacy, education, income, gender, ethnicity; "Upstream" issues relate to technology, connectivity, and infrastructure."
--from Rocks in the Whirlpool:Equity and the American Library Association [2002].
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Upstream is the name chosen by SirsiDynix Institute in 2005.

Upstream is an invaluable facet of the SirsiDynix Institute, posing thought-provoking questions in each issue regarding important issues in librarianship. It offers unexpected ideas and uncensored opinions aimed at provoking thought, generating discussion, and fueling creative approaches to contemporary industry topics. Like the SirsiDynix Institute Web Seminar Series, you won't want to miss reading this issue in which we posed this question:

"What is the best example of libraries building communities that you have come across or experienced? How will libraries in the future be empowered to play even a greater role in their communities?"

Here are the answers.