Abstract The analysis of the service regulations of 70 Latin American university libraries (from Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia) reveals enormous differences in how librarians in this part of the world understand and carry on practical notions about access to knowledge and the university’s role of community service. In some countries, these libraries operate as public services for the community (Brazil, Mexico and Argentina), while in others there are multiple restrictions to external users (with Peru as an extreme case). The article discusses the implica- tions of these findings in relation to the roles of libraries and the university function of social outreach.

Resumen El análisis de los reglamentos de servicios de setenta bibliotecas universitarias latinoamericanas (de Perú, México, Brasil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile y Bolivia) revela que existen enormes diferencias en las maneras en que los bibliotecarios de esta parte del mundo entienden y llevan a la práctica nociones sobre el acceso al conocimiento y el papel de proyección social de las universidades. En algunos países, estas bibliotecas operan como servicios públicos para la comunidad (Brasil, México y Argentina), mientras que en otros se establecen múltiples restricciones a los usuarios externos (con situaciones extremas en Perú). El artículo discute las implicancias de estos hallazgos en relación con los roles de las bibliotecas y la función universitaria de proyección social.

HIV infection defines particular ways of information management among people affected by this health condition. This article presents the results of a study aimed to determine how the information needs and information-seeking behaviours are generated and expressed in a sample of people with HIV from Lima, Peru, essaying an ethnographic, interpretative approach to explore the role of different forms of uncertainty present in different moments of their lives. The results inform an explanatory theoretical model which establish a continuum with a base formed by people's multiple experiences of uncertainty, from where some specific information needs emerge. Depending of the people's stages in their life trajectories with HIV and several socio-cultural factors, some information needs can be expressed as information-seeking behaviours. The study's findings support an analysis approach based in human experiences, social relationships, contextual elements and life trajectories which define information flows. In that sense, this approach has some implications for theory, social research, and professional practice in Information Science.

La infección por VIH define formas particulares de manejo de información entre las personas afectadas por esta condición de salud. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio realizado desde una aproximación etnográfica e interpretativa con el objetivo de determinar cómo se forman y se expresan las necesidades de información y las conductas de búsqueda en una muestra de personas con VIH de Lima, Perú. Luego de explorar el rol de diversas formas de incertidumbre presentes en diferentes momentos de las vidas de estas personas, se elaboró un modelo teórico explicativo que postula un continuum en cuya base se encuentran múltiples experiencias de incertidumbre, algunas de las cuales generan necesidades de información específicas que se pueden expresar en conductas de búsqueda de información dependiendo de las etapas que atraviesan las personas en sus trayectorias de vida y de varios factores del entorno sociocultural. Los hallazgos del estudio sostienen una propuesta de análisis centrada en las experiencias humanas, las relaciones sociales, los elementos contextuales y las trayectorias de vida en las que se inscriben los flujos de información. En ese sentido, esta propuesta tiene algunas implicancias para la teoría, la investigación social y la práctica profesional en Ciencias de la Información.

Peru has a large indigenous population (40% of the total), made of 72 distinct groups. These peoples are at a great disadvantage compared to the mestizos and other groups that are more closely connected with the dominant culture. The political and economic inequality and inequities are particularly stark with regard to health conditions. National policy and plans have not considered the indigenous peoples' values and identity, nor their right to self-determination and control of their land and resources, and even less so, their health knowledge and practices, inasmuch western "modern medicine" has been imposed upon them by the dominant culture. Since 1992, as a result of international forums and academia, as well as a growing movement in Peru to acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and the rights of indigenous peoples, Government proposals, initiatives, and programs were undertaken to incorporate and empower cultural contributions and traditional practices in a way that would not only benefit the indigenous, but also enrich, through various intercultural venues, the stock of cultural traditions and ethnic roots of the greater Peruvian society. This article explores specifically how these intercultural strategies have been rolled out in health care to institutionalize the vertical birth method in rural, predominantly indigenous, communities, and endeavors to assess the decrease in maternal mortality, as well as the difficulties encountered, and mostly overcome, by expressing multiculturalism in the health field.