This paper reviews library situations worldwide and initiatives undertaken to address specific demands in the context of critical, deprived, endemic or transitional socioeconomic situations. The response by the library can be categorised as strictly library-oriented, of a social function and by means of additional services. These library initiatives can serve as a stimulus and a source of possible actions and, in some cases, be emulated and adapted to a particular situation. Here it will be shown how the library may play a variety of roles ranging from employment agency to mediator so that isolated indigenous communities can communicate with the rest of the world and among themselves.