From: mfriley@pacman.WPI.EDU (Margaret F Riley)
Newsgroups: soc.libraries.talk
Subject: Re: How do we use a huge library?
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:33:26 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

choy@cs.usask.ca asked

>>Suppose that a computer system generates tons of useful information
>>and plunks it into a public library. Further suppose that the
>>information is in pretty raw form; the uses for this information are
>>not demonstrated by far. One of the bottlenecks in showing how
>>information to be used is that you tend to say "this piece of 
>>data can be used for bloody well everything". Determining the
>>uses for the information may be a much greater task than discovering
>>the information itself. How can this information be organized so
>>that people can find and use a lot of it?
>>

Well, there are several ways this information can be organized, but
wouldn't you rather have it all available for access from several
different points?   If you go and look at your public library right
now, you will see that this scenario of a huge 
computer-generated database in a library already exhists.  There are
online catalogs, online databases available through services like
Dialog, CD-ROM products that you can search, and there is ever more
information becoming available through electronic means. 

Have you
ever talked to a librarian about trying to look for certain information?
S/he will ask for a specific definition of what you are searching and
then will assist you to focus in on the data relevant to your search.
How can this information be classified?   By assigned subjects using 
an established list of terms, by permitting free searching for specific
words or combinations of words in a database (otherwise known as free-text
searching or even keyword searching), even by date, nationality of
the author, color of the eyes of the data entry person, whatever type
of classification you prefer.   The role of the librarian is to collect
data, divide it up into a variety of categories by a pre-determined 
set of criteria, store this information, and then to assist in its retrieval.

arpepper@math.waterloo.edu said.
>
>You are merely talking about the information explosion, and the
>difference between information and data.  I used to think we should
>refer to the "data explosion", until I realized that a concise
>illustration of the difference between information and data is to say
>"data is what is left over after information explodes".

Actually, he is talking about a very real idea.   There has not only
been an explosion of information lately, it is becoming more and more
reliant upon electronic means for transmission and storage.  This
does not mean that the word printed on paper is dead by any means; it
just means that the increased amount of data available is now coming
to us in 2 forms, print and electronically.  Not everything is available
via computer yet, and many computer databases are not available to you
unles you continue to purchase the corresponding paper documents.

Margaret F. Riley                       +   "Where is human nature so
Circulation Librarian                   +     weak as in the bookstore!"
Worcester Polytechnic Institute         +
Worcester, MA   01609                   +    Henry Ward Beecher
mfriley@wpi.wpi.edu                     +        1813-1887
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