Building Xanadu
Jerry D. Campbell · Collection Management · 1998
In addressing the topic of new service opportunities that come with new access choices in the changing library environment, I want to begin with some general observations. It is my intention by means of these observations to help establish a perspective from which we might begin to explore new opportunities. Such perspective is important because it will inevitably shape the outcome. Even the believer finds it difficult to sustain enthusiasm for that which is prophesied when the gulf between prophecy and fulfillment spans too many years. The prophetic act, or making predictions, strikes quickly. A few words spoken or typed and it is done. Computers, the dreamers have long told us, will change virtually everything about libraries and the knowledge environments of our universities. Meanwhile, the years have come and gone. And that which is predicted, even if it eventually becomes reality in some recognizable form, occurs slowly, incrementally over a generation. Small changes happen around us continually. We get accustomed to them, and from morning to morning things appear stable, almost unchanging. At the same time, prophecy rarely deals with details or provides a blueprint to the future. It attempts, rather, to see far ahead, to point the way with generalities, to identify trends, to draw out implications. By so doing, it seeks to give us momentum in seizing opportunities and creating the best of futures. It seeks also to give us a head start at recognizing and avoiding potential problems. But it does so without many specifics. No wonder even those who hope in the dream can become disillusioned. Not only do the years pass, encouraging the scoffers and nay-sayers, not to mention those who dislike the dream, but we do not know with precision what we should do next. Every day presents new choices, each of which will alter the outcome in its own way (a chaos theory of life, if you like). We can achieve the impossible or we can fail in the sure thing. Those who dream dreams and make predictions leave reality to others. In other words, what actually happens is all up to us. Eventually some dreams do come to pass; the longest night ends in dawn. And the best of dreams appear suddenly to take some particular shape. All those small, incremental changes achieve critical mass. So it is with the effect of computers on higher education and research libraries. After 20 years of expecting too much, too much is now actually possible. Just last week I heard Cornelius Pings, the president of the Association of American Universities, say in a moment of reflection, The long promised revolution is at hand, 2 It now seems that all we ever dreamed and more are possible. We might observe that just because it was predicted did not mean that it would not come true.