ED 231 354

AUTHOR

TITLE

INSTITUTION

REPORT NO

PUB DATE

NOTE

AVAILABLE FROM

PUB TYPE

EDRS PRICE

ElvqCRIPTORS

1FIERS

AtSIAACT

DOCUMENT RESUME

IR 050 224

Boorstin, Daniel J.

Gresham's Saw: Knowledge or Information? The Center

for the Book Viewpoint Series No. 3.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

ISBN-0-8444-0346-6

19 Nov 79

10p.; Remarks at the White House Conference on

Library and Information Services (Washington, DC,

November 19, 1979).

Information Office, Library of Congress, Washington,

D.C. 20540.

Viewpoints (120) Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

OF01/PC01 rlus Postage.

Books; *InAormation Services; *Libraries; *Library.

Role

*Information Industry; *Knowledge

There is a distinction to be made between knowledge

and information..Knowledge is orderly and cumulative; informition is

random and miscellaneous and may be collected simply because it is

there. The information industry is flourishing, but knowledge

institutions--colleges, universitieS, and libraries--go begging. The

knowledge industry is actually being transfdrmed and to some extent,.

displaced by the information industry. Libraries must make use of

computer technology, but they must also,remain fortresses of

knowledge which is still preserved mainly in,books. Similarly,

libraries must be repositories of information, but also places ,of_

refuge from the tidal waves of information--and misinformation. The

autonomous reader, amusing and "knowledging" himself, should be the

be-all and end-all of libraries. (A brief description of the Center

.for the Book, in the Library of Congress, prefaces the pamphlet).

(ESR)

;'

*********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document. **********************************************************************
Gresham's-Law:

Knowledge

Caor Information?

Daniel J. Boodlin, The Librarian of Congress

Remarks at the White House Conference on-Library an?1 Infornration Services

Tashington , November 19, 1979

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC) Tilts document has been reproduced as

received from the person or organization

originating it

Minor changes have been made to improve

reproduction quality

Points of view or opinions stated m this docu

ment do not necessarily represent official NIE

positton or policy

LIBRARY OF CONGRESSWASHINGTON

MCMUXXX
The Center for the Book

Viewpoint Series

This hookkt is printq on.permanent/durahle paper.

.411/ Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:

Boorstin, Daniel Josepli;19-14

Gresham's law : knowledge or information ?

(..or (Viewpoint series ; no. 3)

. Sponsored by Center for the Book.

1. BooksAddresses, essays, lectures.

2. LibrariesAddresses, essaYs, lectures:

3. Information storage and retrieval systemsAddresses, essays, lectures.

1. Center for the Book.

11. Title.

111. Series : Viewpoint series (Washington, D.C.).; no..3;

z 4:87 ooz 80-19198

ISBN 0-8444-0346-6

b
tar

T HE CE N T ER FOR, T H E BOOK in the Library of Congress is pleased to

present the'remarks of Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin on November19 ,

1979, before the delegates to the White House Conference on Libi-ar'y and kilo rillation Services,

" To keep the hookflourishing" is the Librarian says in these remarks , the purpose of the Centerfor th'e Book. Established in Ottobert9 7 7hy Public Law 95-

i -129, the Center endeavors to stimulate interest in books reading, eind the printed

word. Drawing on the resources of the Library of Congress, it works closely with

many organiations to explore important issues in the- book and educational com7

munities,to encoUrage reading,& to encourage research. Its goal is to serve as a useful catalyst among authors, publishers, librarians, booksellers, educators, scholar s, and readers. The Center's program and publications are supported by gifts

from individuals and organi ations. Contributions are tax deductible.

Proposalsfor lectures stminars, & research projaets are welcome. The interests

of the Centerfor the Book include the educational and cultural role of the book, na-

. tion ally & internationally; the history of books& printing; thefuture of the book,

especially as it relates to nev.v. technokiis & other media; authorship & writing;

the printing, publishing, care , & preservation of books; access to & use of books &

printed materials; reading; and literacy.

Setininar pioceedings and lectures are published and disseminated as widely as

possible. Publications sponsored by the Centerfor the Book may be ordered prepaid

from the Information Office, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 20540.

JOHN Y. COLE

Exeiutive Director of the Centerfor the Book
S THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS I speak

for a national fortress of knowledge. In other words,

I speak for a library, and for. libraries. Our relentless

Jeffersonian quest tempts t4s to believe that all technologies (& perhaps, too, all ideas) are created equal.

This favored axiom is only 'slightly clouded by another axiom, equally

American. For we have .a touching national belief in annual models.

In our national loTicon, "newer" is a synonym for "better." The result

is illustrated in thegitleand rsuspda, too, in the preoccupations

of this conference. Eibraries (or as you say library services") are here

equated with "information services," which is peiitously close to saying that knowledge can or' should be equated with information.

In these remarks I would like to focus yourAttention on the distinction between knowledge and information, the importance of the

distinction, and the dangers of failing 04 recognize it. YOu have a hint

of my theme in the melodramatic difference tOday between the condition of our knowledge-institutions and our information-institutions. The last two decades have seen the speGtacular growth of the

information industry. We are exhilarated by this example of American ingenuity and enterprisethe frontier spirit in the late twentieth

century. A magic computer technology now accomplishes the dreariest tasks in seconds, surpasses the accuracy of the human brain,.controls production lines & refineries, arranges inventories, and retrieves

records. All this makes us proud of the human imagination.

All this, teo, I am glad to say, has produced a'widening unpredicted

world of profit & employment. The information industry, we are happy to note, is flourishing. It is a growth industry. It enjoys the accelerating momentum of technology & the full vitality of the marketplaces.

The information inchistries are a whole new world orbusiness celeb-

[ I ]

5

00'
rity. The jargon of the stock exchange accurately describes theirs as

.."glamour "stocks:Their leaders hold the national spotlight, and with

good reason. Trie President of the United States appoints the head of

one of the greatest of,these companies.to be perhaps our most important ambassador to the SoNet Union. ' Meanwhile, what has become of our knowledge-institutions? They

do not deal mainly in the storage and retrieval of information, nor in

the instant flow of today's facts & figures which will be displaced by

tok-norrow's reports and bulletins. Rather, they deal irythe enduringtreasure of our whole.human past. They include our Alleges and our

universities--and, of course, our libraries. While the information industry flourishes and seeks new avenues of growth, while people compete to buy into theM, our knowledge-institutions go begging.

Knowledge-institutions do not pay the kind of dividends that are:

reflected on elle stock market. They are sometimes called "philanthroEtc, which means that they profkt nobody except everybody and their

dividends go to ths whole community. These knowledge-institutions

and especially our public librariesask charity, the community's

6.' small change, just to k7ep their heat and their lights on, and to keep

their unrenovated doors open. We, the knowledge-institutions, are the

poor relations. We anxiously solicit, and gratefully acknowledge, the

crumbs. Today I would like to put into historical perspectivg the distinctio'n between knowledge and information,. For it is especially appropriate in this White.klouse Conference that we should fo-cus on the

distinction.

ILl mylifetime we havemoved from an Age of Publishing into our

Age of Broadcasting. In that Age of Publishing started by Gutenberg,

printed materials (bearing ale community's memory, wisdom, literary imagination, and knowledge) were, of course, widely diffused.The

great vehicle w'as the book. Knowledge was thOugHt to be cumulati,ve.

The new books did no't displac'e the old. When today's books arrived

people did not throwaway yesterday'sas if they were newspapers or

out-of-date informatiorbulletins. On the contrary, the passing years

gave a new vitality to the books.of past centuries.

[2]

6
We too,easfly forget that the printed book, too, waso triumph of

technology. The dead courd now speal.:, not only t6 the select few who

could afford a manuscript took but to thousarids.at home, in schools,

and in libraries everywhere. The very words of Homer, Plato, Machiavelli, and Dickens now could reach everybody. Books became the carriers and the record also the catalyst and the incentivefor most of

the knowledge, the amusement, and the Sacred visions of the human

race.The printed book has given all humanity its inexpensivet speedy,

reliable vehicles across the centuries. Books-have conquered time.

But the peculiar, magic vehicles of our age conquer ipace.The tube

makes us constant eyewitnesses a riots in Iran, airplane wrecks in India, children srving in Cambodia, and guerrilla attacks in Rhodesia.

Along, of course, with an ever-flowing current of entertainment programs. Yet the special commodity of our electronic Age of Broadcasting is Infortrtationin all its amplitude, in all its formats.

While knowledge is orderly & cumulativs, information is random

& miscellaneous. We are flooded by messages from the instant-everywhere in excruciating prRfusion. In our ironic twentieth-century version of Gresham's law, inkrmation tends to drive knowledge out of

circulation. The oldest, the established, the cumulative, is displaced

by the most recent, the most problematic. The latest information on

anything and everything is collected, diffused, received, stored, and retrieved before anyone can discover whether the facts haveaneaning. - A mountain-climbing syndrome rules.us. Information is gathered

simply becauset is there. Electronic devices for diffusion, storage, &

ietrieval are usea, simply because they too are there. Otherwise, the

investment would seem wasted ! fam not complaining. On the contrary, I am charmed and amazed. ForSo much of human progress ha.'s

come from people playing enthusiastically with their neNtechnologic

toyswith resuhs that are astonishing, and often produ5i1e.

,Whateyer the motive, we see the knowledge indusy being transformed, and even to some extent displaced, by an information industry. In the Schoolroom, history tends to be displaced by current events.

The resources of science & literature are overwhelmed and diluted by

' [3]

7
. A multiplying journals, by loose-leaf services, by preprints, and by'information stored in coMputers, quickly & convertiently modified, and

instantly retfievable. ')

To the ancieht question," What is truth?" we Americans now reply,

"Sorry, I haven't seen the seven o'clock news !" - What does all this mean feir the world of knowledge, which is also,

. of course, theyorld Of libraries? It shoulbe plainer than ever that our

,

. libraries are needed to keep civilization in perspective. The more elec-

,tronic out society becomes) t,he more urgent it is tharwe have prosper-

:., ous knowledge-institutions. Yet this urgency is less noted every year. ' If you consult the authoritative- Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, published in 1933, & look under Libraries "you will be referred to ",Public Libraries "where you find an extensive article. But ifYou consi4t its

successor, the Internati94al Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, publishe&in

, 1968, and look for anentry for " Libraries" you Will'find no 'i-t.icle, Inst d tkere s a cross-reference which says ". See under Information and

Storage and Retrieval." .

. The 'fashionable chronologicmydpiaof our time tempts enthusiasts

to forget the main and proper mission of our libraries." Libraries have

been selling the wrong prildnct for years," one such faddist exclaims.

!`They have been emphasizing reading.The product that wehave is information." But these are false messiahs. Of course, we must usesoMputer technologyand enlist the whole information industry. At the Library of Congress we have tried to be a leader in exploring its uses and

in e cling its applications. We will continue to do so. -,. In tfie long run, however, we will serve neither the information in-

.- . dustry nor our civilization, if we encourage extravagant Or misplaced

expsctations for the role of information or the'clevices which s rve it

up. We must never forget that our libraries are our fortresses of pow.-

leke. If we allow these rich resources, still preserved mainly in books,

to be displaced by the latest thing,byroday's news & journals & preprints & loose-leaf services & telephone conversations ¤tly re:-

vised printouts, we will isolate the world of vholarship fromthe world

of libraries.To avoid such dangers as tIke we have estaWished in the

[4]
Library of Congress a Center for the Book, to use old & find new ways . to keep the book flourishing, to keep people reading bool&, and to enlist other media to promote reading. One such project, Rea. d Wire,.

About It, with the enthusiastic collaboration t>f cbs, the other,nightafter the showing of "All Quiet on the Western Froht" brought our

suggested reading list to some 31 million viewers. Wel,must and will

do more of this.

If librarians cease to be scholars in order to become computer experts, scholars will cease to feel at home in our libraries. And &len our

wholf citizenry will fincl that our libraries add ,little to theit view of

the wotld, but merely reinforce the pressures of the imperial instanteverywhere. To enlist scholars more.artively more intimately in the

activities of the Library of Co9gress, we are now setting up in the Li-

: brary a tbuncil of Scholars. Th y will help us discoverthe needs.of the

scholarly world and will'help s,provide an ong,oing inventory of the

state of our knowledgeand f our ignorance. _ A great civilization nee s many and varied resources. In our sime

. our libraries have two par doxical & sometimes conflicting role's. Of

course we must be repositories of information. But somehow we must

also remain places 6f refuge from the tidal waves of informationand

misinformation. Our libraries must be conspicuously the treasuries Of

news that stays news.

-the era of the Enlightenment, the later eighteenth century, the age

of Franklin & Jefferson, the founding epoch of our nation, was an Age

of Publishing. That age has left us ahappy phrase. They said that people shoLild read for "Amusement andlnstruction." This was why they read

the poetry of Dryden and Pope, the philosophy of Hume, the history

of Gibbon, and the nOvels of Sterne and Fielding. The two delights,

amusement " and "instruction," were inseparable. The book was the

.prototypical provider of both. A person who was"a-mused " (from Latin ''muser," to idle or to pass the time) wai engaged in a quite autonomous,activityset off by a catalyst, i the form of a book. In those days

boOk publishing was an "amusement industry."

Today in an Age of Broadcasting " entertainment " tends to displace

[ 5]

-t"^"...f

0

4

a
"amusement." While we once had tdamuse ourselves, we nowsexpect

to be entertained, The program is the eptertainment. The armtsenlent

is in us. But others can and must be our entertainers. Now, of course,

Oiere is a flourishing "entertainment industry." We genetally do not

consider book publishing to be part of it.

This is something torellect on.lt is another clue to our special need

for li braries. The more omnipresent is theindustry that tries to entertain us, the more we need librarie's' where?easure & amusementvare

found by the free and active spirit:

It is a cliché of ourttime that what this nation needs is " informed ,

citizenry." By which we mean a citizenry that is uron the latest information, that has not failed to read thisweek's neiwnagazine, today's

newspapers, or tfwatch the seven o'clocknews (perhaps arso the !Jews

at ten o'clock!) always for more information, always to be better informed.

I wonder if that is what we need. I suggest, rather, that what we

need what anyfree country needsis a knowledgeable ci,tizenry. Information, like ehtertainment, is swnething someone else provides us. It

really is a"service"! We expect to be entertained, &alsb to be informed.

But we cannoibe knowledge& We ITILIst all acquire knowtedgeforoursebes.

Knowledge comes from the free mind floraging in the rid; pâgtures of

the whole everywhere,past. It comes from finding-order and meaning-

, in the whole human experience. The autonomous readmamusing

lenowledging himself, is the be-all and end-all of our libraries.

[6]

1 0