"The amount of electronic information is doubling every 60 minutes," says John L. King, Dean of Michigan's School of Information. "How do you decide what to keep and what not to keep? What is the value of the information? Librarians have been dealing with these issues for years, although computer scientists get all the glory." (cite)

Both libraries and computer centers often perpetuate the myth of information control. Both groups often perceive themselves as the heart of their respective information domains -- with this power extending even to control over the character and quality of information accessed within the community.

The era of the "glass room" marked the height of computer center control over information. Here, the IT staff maintained total control over the information within an organization -- even to the point of control over the precise analysis methods used to manipulate the information.

While libraries have never had comparable information control, the mythology of librarianship views their roles as nurturing and preserving the the intellectual heart of the university. Many faculty have spoken reverently of the library as lying at both the physical and spiritual heart of the campus.

The combination of desktop computing and rapid Internet access is decentralizing the locus of information control from computer centers and libraries into the hands of the individual users. Each user now has the available resources to gather, manipulate, and disseminate information in ways that are totally disintermediated from central authority. For example:

• An office worker can use microcomputer tools to perform fiscal analyses that are very different from those intended by the MIS department. Furthermore, this work can be done without their knowledge or consent.
  
  
• While the technology center may dictate standards for desktop software, it is powerless to prevent individuals from downloading software from online archives or electronic stores.
  
  
• Students can search reference databases from their room. On-line document delivery services can even deliver reprints without the direct involvement of local librarians.
  
  
• Individuals can publish web pages without the advance knowledge or clearance from a company's public relations office. While a company can control their web server, it is trivially easy to purchase space at other web sites.

The emerging information revolution will require new models for the operation of libraries and information technology centers. The following sections attempt to map some of the dimensions of the new information environment with an eye toward the types of new structures that may evolve.

New roles for information centers