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of a problem as information scarcity. It can make it just as hard as it was before for someone to get
hold of the information they need—they really need—to make the right decisions. It is no longer
necessarily a question of money, of basic literacy skills, of the availability of information even, but
rather one of more advanced skills—information literacy, critical thinking—that can represent just
as powerful a block on access to information.
And this is what libraries can provide as gate-openers. Clearly, libraries have been working
to help researchers make best use of information since before the birth of the Internet. As we
made the transition from gatekeepers to gateways, librarians no longer determined which books a
researcher could access, but rather offered suggestions and skills.
This role has come into its own in our third phase.
Because it is not only researchers in academic and scientific institutions who need skills in
order to be able to navigate the sea of information available to them. So too do everyday citizens
trying to take their own decisions—about which job to apply for, which course to follow, which
agricultural technique to adopt, which diet to take up. With so much information available, there is
this need for support, for skills, for confidence. And this is what libraries can provide.
Indeed, the Internet has made it possible to accelerate the performance of some of the more basic
functions of libraries in finding the answers to simple questions. In doing so, it has freed up time
for librarians to really make the most of the skills, the insights that are unique to the profession.
To make an analogy with economic development—one that will doubtless be familiar here—
libraries have an opportunity to move up the value chain. To take on a role that cannot be replaced,
that is truly unique to them, that underlines how much a modern society needs its libraries.
One where we celebrate what the Internet has brought us, the ease of access to information, the
speed, the ubiquity, because it really enables libraries to come into their own.
To open up new possibilities for users to make new uses of the information that is out there. To
power innovation. To empower people. This is important. There is often talk about this being an
information age, that we are living in an information society. For this age, for this society to be
an egalitarian one, it is important that everyone—and not just the elite—has access not only to
information, but also the skills to use it fully.
Today, this means not just the core access to otherwise unavailable books, documents, and resources
that libraries continue to offer. Not just the basic literacy that libraries support through story times,
through their work with children, through building a love of reading. But also this key gate-opening
function, whereby libraries help everyone to build the competences they need to turn the possibilities
of information abundance into the reality of better decision-making and better lives. I hope that this
is a message that resonates with you. That you recognise your own role as gate-openers in your own
work. Making the difference between access to information and meaningful access to information.
Yet in closing, I want to argue that in taking on this role, we need to be ready to work together
more effectively, to raise our voices, to communicate with others.
There is an urgency in this. There are growing numbers of people out there who question