I have begun writing this adress in one of the world's magnificent libraries, the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. The scale and grandeur of the physical place and the enormity of its collection are difficult to comprehend. The collection includes more than 28 million catalogued books and other print materials in 460 languages, and has the largest rare book collection in North America, as well as the world's largest collectin of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings. Marble, gilt, brass, vaulted ceilings, mosaics honoring the professions, magnificent paintings depicting the creation and diffusion of knowledge and the role of literature and learning, sculptures featuring life and thought and honoring those who over centuries have made distinguished contributions - all these make it visually an awesome and inspiring place. I am working in the domed Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Wing, barely able to concentrate.
A mural by Edwin Blashfield depicting the great epochs of civilization adorns the apex of this enormous and embellished dome. In the cupola of the dome is another painting by Edwin Blashfield, and it is this that captures my attention. Here is painted a female figure, visible only to those in the Reading Room below, representing Human Understanding. Human Understanding. And atop this dome, on the outside of the building, is the "Torch of Learning". It is my view that the pinnacle, the centre, the heart of a library is the development of human understanding. My central claim in this paper is that the school library in the 21st Century is about constructing sense and new knowledge, and building an information infrastructure and information resources to enable this. This is the idea of the library as a knowledge space, not information. In order to achieve that, I believe we need to focus on three things: connections, not collections; actions, not positions; and evidence, not advocacy.(...)
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