Magic and Hypersystems: Constructing the Information-Sharing Library

Suggesting that contemporary information systems owe a debt to 16th century attempts to order knowledge based on "magic" image-based memory systems, Billings (directory of general libraries, U. of Texas at Austin) explores historical and contemporary issues of the ordering of information in research libraries. After discussing the development of research libraries, he describes current operations and services and offers advice on where libraries, research information management, and knowledge systems should go in the future. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR