Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

INFORMATION AND DEMOCRACY
and of the ‘urge to know’ of the concerned citizen, the zealous schoolchild, the
autodidact, the self-improver, or simply the curious layperson. But against this
appealing picture we must set the fact that not only are library reference
services not used by a representative cross-section of the public (the better off
dominate yet again), but also reference materials account for only 12 to 15 per
cent of library stock and for only 5 per cent of annual book purchases. Since most
users have enough money to pay their way, and since reference services are a
small part of the library’s stock, it is perhaps reasonable for free-marketers to
propose a daily admission charge, with ‘season ticket facilities’ for longer-term
users.
These critiques of public libraries found accord with an enthusiasm for the
commercial possibilities of information. In the mid-1980s the Information
Technology Advisory Panel (1983) published what turned out to be an influential
report revealingly titled Making a Business of Information that gave voice to
this commitment. ITAP identified ‘an expanding “tradeable information sector”
which encompasses the supply of financial and business information, printing and
publishing, on-line technical information, consultancies etc.’ (p. 7). The report
urged ‘[b]oth private and public sectors [to] pay much more attention to information
as a commercial commodity’ (p. 8), advising that entrepreneurs be
allowed to enter previously excluded terrain (i.e. relevant public sector bodies)
and that those already in position should themselves become entrepreneurial.
Public libraries were to the front as recipients of this advice.
What has become evident is that, impelled by additional public demands, by
reductions in resources, by technological innovations and an unprecedented
critique of the philosophy underpinning public libraries, a changed conception of
information and access to information has emerged. Where once information was
perceived as a public resource that ought to be shared and free, now and increasingly
it is regarded as a commodity that is tradable, something that can be bought
and sold for private consumption, with access dependent on payment. The ‘fee
or free?’ debate is being resolved in an incremental manner in favour of those
who support charging. A portent of changes consequent on the market-alert ethos
is the introduction by entrepreneurial librarians of ‘premium’ services, generally
for commercial users who seek information pertinent to their businesses. As these
are pioneered there is also introduced a two-tier library system which sits uncomfortably
with the public service ideal of information access to all regardless of
individual circumstances.
It would be wrong to suggest that we have experienced a sea change in the
operation of public libraries. New practices are emerging, and a new ideology is
being articulated (Bailey, 1989), but government continues to exclude charging
from basic book borrowing, journals and the use of reference materials (Office
of Arts and Libraries, 1988). Nevertheless, ‘the levying of charges is gradually
becoming more widely accepted’ (Lewis and Martyn, 1986), with public libraries
charging a fee for inter-library loan requests, for non-book materials, reservation
services, out-of-area users, photocopying and, of course, computer-based
information. Bob Usherwood (1989) believes that charging for services will
unavoidably result in the prioritisation of corporate users over individual citizens
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