The issues related toward advancing the information economy in Turkmenistan are organized using the STEPE model (i.e., social, technical, economic, political, and ecological matters). An analysis, using these five factors, can give insight into the likely future of the information economy within this country. Many of the observations focus on contrasts rather than similarities since the Presidential library ban of June 2005 (see Richardson, John V. �The library and information economy of Turkmenistan.�