(Just started, and already I’m having trouble finding time to post.)

On some meta-level, of course, the library has always been a “node” in an information network. But with the advent of strongly connected electronic networks, and the steady absorption of all forms of “analogue” information into digital forms, the nodal aspect of the library has become much less metaphorical, much more literal, with significant consequences. Two that are immediately apparent:

• the node defines, and is defined by, a locality or community — that is, the purpose or function of the node is to serve a particular community or communities; and
• information flows through the node in both directions — from the network at large to the locality, and from the locality to the network at large.

More generally: the idea of a library as a passive repository or collection of information is declining in cultural significance, as many have noticed and fretted over — but the idea of a library as a mediator of information is increasing in importance in direct relation to the enormous increase in the sheer volume of information to be processed. What we still need to do is ensure that that idea is a widely shared reality.