FROM INFORMATION STATICS TO INFORMATION DYNAMICS: The Developing World Has No Alternative

Abstract

Libraries as presently constituted are essentially static paper-containing information systems often enclosed in massive specific spaces. The new electronic systems are by their very nature dynamic global systems that take up almost no space. Static information systems evolved from clay tablets to papyrus scrolls to parchment and finally to paper produced in vast quantities by the printing press. Medical and scientific journals have been growing exponentially since the seventeeth century as have the static paper-based libraries. This growth has been non-Darwinian, being outside of the laws of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Thus, the great majority of medical information is uncited and unread. Moreover, the vast investment in static libraries in the developed world has inhibited the development of modern electronic systems. In contrast, the developing world is largely bereft of such institutions, and has the unique opportunity to leap unencumbered by the static past into the far more efficient and dynamic electronic future.