An electronic database ready to help you look up whatever type of documentation you need, specifying, say, a range of dates, a genre, subject matter, and even publishers. And a Web site offering the whole catalog online, letting you acquire a copy of anything electronic, order a printout by express mail, or, for current documents, jump to the relevant sites. Of course, we might not ever see such a gigantic hall of fame for technical communication. But for a moment, imagine that some such library existed. Or, more seriously, imagine being able to look through a dozen examples of a type of tutorial you have never written, before writing your own document design.
Writing always improves when it is based on good examples.
As writers, editors, managers, teachers, and researchers in technical communication, we also have a responsibility to preserve examples of technical communication from around the world for future communicators, students, and teachers. That's why we propose an international Library of Technical Communication. No university has set up a special library devoted to technical communication or documentation. Some professors have cached small selections of sample manuals in their departmental libraries, or in their own offices, for use by a few current students. Most large companies have a library of the documentation needed for whatever software they are using, but no collection of other materials.