Evolution, Libraries, and National Information Policy

Abstract

It is argued that evolutionary mechanisms, defined in terms of variation and selection, or trial and error-elimination, underlie both the process by which knowledge grows and the process by which large complex systems can improve. By confining attempted improvements in a large system to small components thereof, failures that inevitably occur can also be confined to a small scale. Large-scale, long-range systems planning may lead to large-scale failure. It follows that, in lieu of planning and designing monolithic systems--systems with centralized control and overall goals--one should focus instead on fostering evolutionary mechanisms that encourage innovation by autonomous units within the system and that eliminate error. These arguments, applied to libraries and related services, could explain why innovative developments, such as on-line information services, tend to originate in the private sector, where entrepreneurship and competition provide the mechanisms of trial and error-elimination. Such arguments also underscore the advantages of charging user fees for certain types of library services. National information policy should be geared to the preservation and encouragement of trial-and-error evolutionary mechanisms.