The role of the library in an electronic society

Lancaster, F.W.; Drasgow, Laura S.; Marks, Ellen B.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1099 Copy

Description

Title

The role of the library in an electronic society

Author(s)

• Lancaster, F.W.
• Drasgow, Laura S.
• Marks, Ellen B.

Issue Date

1979

Keyword(s)

• Libraries --Automation
• Library science --Data processing
• Future technology trends
• Disruptive technologies

Abstract

In 1978 the Library Research Center of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science was awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to investigate the impact of a paperless society on the research library of the future. The basic premise underlying our ongoing research is that many types of publications can be distributed more effectively in electronic form and that, in fact, future economic factors will dictate that they be distributed electronically. Within the long history of human communication, the print-on-paper era will prove to be a short one: a period of little more than 500 years. Clearly, we are evolving out of this paper-based era into one that is electronic. We are presently in a transitional phase in the natural evolution from paper to electronic communication. This transitional phase appears to have three major characteristics: ( 1 ) the computer is presently used to print on paper, (2) printed data bases exist side by side with their machine-readable counterparts, and (3) new data bases are emerging only in electronic form. By and large, machine-readable data bases have not yet replaced print-on-paper data bases, but this will undoubtedly occur quite soon.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (16th : 1979)

ISSN

0069-4789

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1099

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

This paper is drawn from research supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Information Science and Technology (DSI-78-04768).

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois 1979.

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