THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

formula such as that provided by theories of biological or social
evolution or the Idee-Force, that the panacea for the multitudinous
indispositions afflicting the body of the- social
sciences was to be found. Bibliographic organisation, as he sawit,
could systematically gather together the scattered literature
of the social sciences so that bibliographic analysis could
reach into it and extract from it for synthesis what was hard
and bright as fact or useful observation.
On a practical level, the paper gives ample evidence of
the scope of Otlet's acquaintance with actual bibliographical
materials. He was familiar with a great many contemporary
catalogues, indexes and «abstracting» services, and with practical
problems of bibliographic co-operation and standardisation.
In fact, the paper was an interesting restatement and development
of the bibliographical program underlying the
work of the Bibliographical section of the Societe des Etudes
Sociales et Politiques with which, through his friendship with
La Fontaine, he was becoming increasingly involved. In 1893
the Section changed its name to become the International Institute
of Sociological Bibliography under the joint direction
of Otlet and La Fontaine.
A notice of the Office issued in 1894 provided a rationalisation
for its creation and described the work it had pursued
for a year.
Because the methods of observation and co-operation have produced
unceasing progress, and the internationalisation of science has
enlarged the field of action of investigators, a rigorously scientific
classification has become necessary. In truth, the synthesis of knowledge
about society which it is possible to achieve, will rise only from
the accumulations of individual efforts. There is no single man, be he
a genius, who will create any particle of the sociology of to-morrow
and elevate it to the status of the positive and exact sciences. This
work will be the natural result of studies carried out at the same
time throughout the whole world by thousands of thinkers and investigators.
Thus, individual work will more and more appear as chapters,
as paragraphs, nay, even as single lines in the great book which
one day we will be able to call the Science of Society. Sociological
Bibliography is only the table of contents of this book, the analytical
index elaborated day by day, which permits one to perceive the general
structure of the work up to the present and to be informed at
'each moment of its state of development. 18
The Office proposed to achieve its aims through bibliographic
publications, bibliographic repertories, a collection of social
«facts», and a library. It took over the Sommaire periodique
des revues de droit, begun under Picard's guidance in 1891
and now called Sommaire methodique des traites et revues
de droit. A similar publication, similarly titled was begun for
sociology and its first volume appeared in 1894. Five major repertories
were contemplated: a universal legal repertory, a repertory
for the Social Sciences, classified repertories of comparative
legislation and of comparative statistics and a general
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