University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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

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.

Owning Collections

1979: The Role of the Library in an Electronic Society PRIMARY
16th Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing (1979). Edited by F.W. Lancaster.