The role of public/community libraries in promoting national development is undeniable. It is therefore not surprising that these libraries are being heralded as partners in e-government service delivery. The libraries however experience challenges in providing this important service, many of which emanate from poor funding. The paper presents findings of a study that was conducted in urban, semi-urban and rural public/community libraries in Namibia to determine access to e-government services through public/community libraries. Related studies have highlighted the digital divide between rural and urban settings as one of the factors influencing e-government service delivery. There is an imbalance in the provision of technology infrastructure between rural and urban areas in Namibia. The study therefore was based on the assumption that the setting of the library will have an influence on access to e-government services. The study employed a survey research design using a questionnaire for data collection, which was administered via email. The study population were all 65 community libraries, of which 64 took part in the study and the units of analysis were library staff, of which 75 completed the questionnaire. The findings show that the e-government services that users were accessing through the libraries included downloading and completing employment forms, employment information, and filing tax returns. The challenges included few workstations in libraries, unreliable Internet connectivity and slow Internet access (i.e. slow bandwidth). The library setting had no impact on access to e-government services, suggesting that these other factors could equally be affecting libraries regardless of setting and that there could be other factors at play. The study recommends that a study be conducted to gather the perspective of the users which may highlight what these other factors are.

公共/社区图书馆在促进国家发展中的作用是不可否认的。因此，毫不奇怪，这些图书馆被誉为电子政务服务交付的合作伙伴。但是，图书馆在提供这项重要服务方面遇到了挑战，其中许多是由于资金不足造成的。本文介绍了在纳米比亚的城市，半城市和农村公共/社区图书馆中进行的一项研究的结果，以确定通过公共/社区图书馆获得电子政务服务的方式。相关研究强调了城乡之间的数字鸿沟是影响电子政务服务交付的因素之一。纳米比亚城乡之间的技术基础设施提供不平衡。因此，该研究基于这样一个假设，即图书馆的设置将对获得电子政务服务产生影响。该研究采用了调查研究设计，该设计使用调查表进行数据收集，并通过电子邮件进行管理。研究人群均为65个社区图书馆，其中64个参加了研究，分析单位为图书馆工作人员，其中75个完成了问卷调查。调查结果表明，用户通过图书馆访问的电子政务服务包括下载并填写就业表格，就业信息以及提交纳税申报表。挑战包括图书馆中的工作站很少，不可靠的Internet连接和缓慢的Internet访问（即，缓慢的带宽）。图书馆设置对获得电子政务服务没有影响，暗示这些其他因素可能同样影响图书馆，无论设置如何，而且可能还有其他因素在起作用。该研究建议进行一项研究以收集用户的观点，这可能会突出显示这些其他因素是什么。