CIL - the future of the special library

Another presentation I went to was titled "The Future of the Special Library" by R. James King from the Naval Research Library here in Washington. He began by thanking his staff for all their work, a lovely touch! Two of them were in the session and we all applauded for them. And then he quoted Isaac Asimov: No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. And he invoked the often repeated phrase that the only way to deal with the future is to invent it.

An interesting concept that he brought out is that documents are talking things. Before there was writing people sat and learned from the talk of their elders - aristotle & plato come to mind. Manuscripts extend the voice - printing goes further - digital and web dessemination even further. And each time the format changes we require new means for authentication of the content! We get further and further from the original speaker. And as we move forward everything also becomes less durable: vellum to paper to digital.

Fascinating things to think about! Talk at you tomorrow (I hope!)