Technovandals and the Future of Librariesrnby Michael GormanrnThere are discussions at all levels of government about thernfuture of libraries. The federal government is proceedingrnwith plans for the I-WAY (otherwise known as the National InformationrnSuperhighway), blithely assuming that it will, at arntime and cost and in a manner unknown, supersede most if notrnall library services and programs. It is taken for granted that therntexts of articles and books will be available on the I-WY atrnsome point in the not-too-distant future. The eerie thingrnabout these discussions is the absence of practical solutions tornsome problems (copyright and intellectual freedom chiefrnamong them) and the assumption that some very weightyrnpractical and technical problems will be solved miraculously byrnthe march of technology. At a more mundane level, universities,rnmunicipalities, and school districts are wrestling with thernincreasing costs of, and the diminishing resources available to,rnthe libraries for which they are responsible.rnThe multiyear financial squeeze on public institutions imposedrnby the retrograde public policy of the last 20 years has imposedrntremendous burdens on school, public, and academic libraries.rnTo take but one example of many, one of the effects ofrnthe “Tax Revolt” in California has been that the richest state ofrnthe richest nation on earth ranks 50th out of the 50 states in thernproportion of librarians to students in the public schools.rnViewed superficially, this may seem regrettable but relativelyrnunimportant. In truth, the effects are far-reaching. Manyrnstudents entering California’s universities, even the best andrnbrightest of them, lack even vestiges of library skills and, morernimportantly, have not the habit of reading. The former can bernpartially remedied if the students can be caught as freshmenrnand i/college and university libraries have the human and financialrnresources to mount a comprehensive library instructionrnMichael Gorman is dean of library services at California StaternUniversity. This is an expanded and revised version of an articlernpublished in the February 15 issue ofLibrary Journal.rnprogram. The latter is a permanent blight. Those who canrnread functionally but do not read cannot think or write coherently.rnThe net result of the neglect of California’s school librariesrnis a generation of college graduates who have only thernnarrowest education, who lack the research skills necessary torna full and productive life, and who may never know the joys andrnrewards of the intellectual life. This is a danger to democracyrnand society.rnSome of the effects of the financial crisis of libraries are obviousrn—no school librarians; closed public library branches (inrna few California cases, whole county library systems have beenrndiscontinued); canceled journals; record low levels of bookrnpurchase. Some are more insidious, and their results may notrnbe obvious to the general public for many years—for example,rnthe incremental effect on a community whose children knowrnnothing of libraries because there is no accessible public libraryrnbranch. There is one issue, above all others, that may have therndirest long-term effects. That issue—which is, ironically, seenrnby some as entirely beneficial—concerns the impact of electronicrntechnology on libraries, learning, and society as a whole.rnGiven the general public image of libraries and librarians, it isrninteresting to note that libraries have been in the forefront ofrntechnological innovation. They have long had computerizedrncatalogs, circulation systems, and other housekeeping systems.rnAlmost all libraries have extensive programs providing access torna wealth of electronic information systems (bibliographic, statistical,rnand full-text) both in CD-ROM and online. In short,rnthey have completed the move from (in the words of MichaelrnBuckland) the Paper Library (paper documents controlled byrnpaper files) to the Automated Library (paper documents controlledrnby electronic files). The next step is the bone of contentionrn—should libraries move to the Electronic Library (electronicrndocuments controlled electronically)? The question isrnoversimplified, because the issue is not whether libraries shouldrnor will have an electronic document component (that is alreadyrn20/CHRONICLESrnrnrn