The Case for Informationally Based Social Inclusion for Sex Workers: A South African Exploratory Study

The ultimate aim of any library or information service is to meet the needs of its community. The return to basics in library and information services provision in the 1970s and 1980s led to the development of community librarianship which promised to deliver a more egalitarian and appropriately targeted public library. The return to basics also brought a multiplicity of studies on information use in the context of specific communities. The information needs of sex workers as a community are generally unexplored. This article examines the needs of this largely high earning but marginalised group in the context of informationally based social exclusion. Using the qualitative critical incident approach to assessing information seeking behaviour a survey of sex workers' information needs and use of information channels was carried out in Pietermaritzburg-Msunduzi, South Africa and the results are presented here. Potential information channels are identified and the actual information channels used by the sex workers are discussed giving the sex workers' perceptions of their adequacy. Suggestions are made about appropriate library and information provision.