Libraries Are More Than Information: Situational Aspects of Electronic Libraries

摘要

There is a danger that in the rush to network information the significantnoninformational (what we call situational) features of libraries will be lost. The paper is speculation by a technologist and a librarian on these features of today's libraries, and how they might take shape in the electronic future. The authors have identified three library functions that deliver no information, but meet essential human needs, and so should not be overlooked in the design of the national information infrastructure. The three are: providing a reference for community identity; serving as centers of community culture; and entering into the minutia of peoples lives. Based on these three, the authors describe some possible principles and policies for electronic information that will help expand the situational functions of libraries to their networked form.