Augmenting Library Services: Toward the Sharium
Gary Marchionini · 1999
The conception and work of libraries have always been shaped by the external representations of thought manifest in physical media of expression. Whether stone tablets, books, or magnetic recordings, libraries serve to preserve these objects and to provide access to the thought carried in such objects. New media of expression will surely affect the conception and work of libraries. These changes are not supplantations as much as augmentations in the continuing evolution of thought and communication. Theories of information science seek to explain these augmentations and postulate new possibilities for theory and practice. This paper presents a model of digital library evolution that augments service by facilitating community-based sharing of time and information. In the sharium model, people and their interactions are as important as information resources. Digital library content and tools serve as the environment to bring people together for problem solving and intellectual exchange.