Many smaller public libraries … will have neither the funding nor the expertise to operate as intermediaries to electronic information.
Predictor: Stoll, Clifford
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Silicon Snake Oil,” writer Clifford Stoll shares his take on the Internet’s future implications, quoting Clifford Lynch. Stoll writes:”Now listen to library-automation advocate Dr. Clifford Lynch in ‘Networks, Open Access, and Virtual Libraries’: ‘Many smaller public libraries will be reduced to lending current novels and will be unable to fill other information needs for their user communities,’ he writes. ‘They will have neither the funding nor the expertise to operate as intermediaries to electronic information.'”
Biography:Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Libraries/Databases
Name of publication: Silicon Snake Oil
Title, headline, chapter name: Wherein the Author Considers the Future of the Library, the Myth of Free Information, and a Novel Way to Heat Bathwater
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 184
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Tencer, Elizabeth L.