From the Man Who Ought to Know

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS ON THE BOOK

"AS WE LOOK AHEAD to the increasingly internationalized, networked twenty-first century with its audiovisual glitter and instantaneous electronics, it may he well to remember what the heart of our historic library enterprise really is. It is basically books and people.

Books are and will remain essential artifacts in a humane society-—the accessible, portable, affordable basic source of knowledge and guide to understanding for the individual library user. At a time when books are being deconstructed in the academy and digitized in the factory, they should not be dishonored—let alone destroyed—in the library. Books put things together rather than take them apart; they convince rather than coerce; they tend, over time, to turn wise guys into wiser, and nicer, people.

We asked JAMES BILLNGTON, the Librarian of Congress, whether the book was doomed to obsolescence. He sent us the reply above, excerpted from a talk be gave in July 1991 to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services.