How a librarian can live nine lives in a knowledge-based economy

摘要

In 1995 I decided to leave behind 13 years of work as a librarian, documentalist, and information manager to take part in the development of the growing industry of Web content. I was sure that my studies and experience as an information professional would help me construct appropriate formulas of service. I wanted to learn new methods for disseminating information and to discover new ways for collecting and processing information. I was convinced that, with the coming of the Web, we were entering an entirely different era and nothing would be the same in the circulation and access of knowledge--and in saying so I also felt too young and too inclined to innovation to wait for the new technologies to mature and grow into the traditional structures. Thus, somewhat crazily, with a business plan that would end up being entirely useless, I founded a small company, Panta Rei. (The name of the company means "everything flows"and derives from the famous sentence of Eraclito--the ancient Greek philosopher known in English as Heraclitus--who understood the importance of change and of the continuous modification of our reality: "Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.") The company's mission was to offer consulting, research, and online training services. Today, in 2001, I can say that most of my intuitions of 7 years ago were correct: The Web is the universal interface of access to information and nobody doubts anymore that libraries, be they hybrid, virtual, or digital, must have Web interfaces. It is also true that I haven't abandoned the values, methods, and techniques that distinguish the traditional role of information professionals: Just as it was 10 or 15 years ago, when I'm doing research or creating new contents, my attention is focused on quality control in the process of selecting, evaluating, and creating products and services that must meet specific needs.