By Roger Brisson
Published: March 17, 2007 12:49 pm   

The Internet has had a profound impact on our lives. It has made us more aware than ever of the role information plays in modern society.

Over the past years, the Internet and the World Wide Web have led to a transformation in American society, a transformation so momentous that we now refer to it as the Information Revolution. It is creating a new society based on skilled workers who possess a solid working command over the tools to find, gather and process information in a variety of fields and endeavors. This revolution has been as significant as any in this country's history, and it has brought into prominence how vital information is to our lives.

The large majority of Americans now have access to the Internet. "Always on" broadband access allows us to conduct quick searches to answer questions and solve problems. With so much information now available through the digital "pipeline" of the Internet, the question, "Are libraries still necessary?" is frequently asked. If I can find the answer to my information need with a click of a Google button, aren't books and libraries going the way of the Model T?

To the contrary, countless libraries today are witnessing explosive growth in the use of their services, and communities across the country are investing heavily in expanding their libraries. A parallel growth can be found in the world of books: The international publishing industry and the growth of book culture have never been more vibrant. As information takes on such vital importance in society, this is not surprising.

The claim that libraries will become irrelevant is based on the mistaken ideas that libraries are only storehouses for books, with only a certain limited quantity of information available. If all of this information is on the Web and searchable by Google, then no other source of information is needed. These notions couldn't be further from the truth.

The essential role of libraries has always been, and always will be, the organizing and preserving of information, whether that information comes in the form of a book, a magazine, a compact disc, the Internet or any other of the many formats libraries have collected over the past centuries.

An endless resource, information is constantly expanding both in quantity and, most importantly for open-market societies, in quality. This mass production and packaging of information in all its variety allows it to be made into a "commodity" that can be sold in the open marketplace. Never before has the production, organization and access to information played such a central role in society.

For this reason the library, whether it is on a college campus, in a corporate office or in a town, has taken on a central importance for a community. The value of libraries grows as the value of information increases in society - libraries fulfill an essential need in producing, organizing and providing access to information.

A well-supported and smoothly functioning library must be a central measure of the health and viability of a community. As a physical place, it embodies the value and the recognition a community places on information for its well-being. As a public resource, Sawyer Free Library will continue to develop its mission in serving as the city's information hub. It is the city's gateway to the world of both printed text and digital information, and as such, can be a powerful catalyst for the entire community.

Roger Brisson is director of Sawyer Free Library.