Value of Information

“Part of understanding the nature of information is trying to understand
its value. Although information has had value over the centuries, attempts
to determine its monetary value have arisen as its critical value has become
more prominent. With the industrial society evolving into an
information-based society, the concept of information as a product, a commodity
with its own value, has emerged.” (Rubin, 2004. p.57)

One of the major themes when talking about libraries, where they are and where they are going, is that of information and the competition that libraries face from for-profit providers. As librarians we believe in the importance of information. What is becoming clear is that others too see the value in information, and they want people to pay for privilege of access.

Most people probably have no idea how much those databases like EBSCO cost, that is if they even know what they are. I myself first of all had no idea what databases were, how to use them or that they could be accessed through my public library. I was, and still am, a regular user of the public library but was not exposed to databases until I started working in the circulation department of the Delaware County Community College library. There I overheard the librarians leading students through searches at the reference desk. But it wasn’t until my car was broadsided and needed to consult the consumer reports car buying guide that I finally asked one of the librarians how to do my own searching.

Not only are people unaware of the nature and purpose of the available databases in the public library but students and faculty in academic libraries seem to have some misunderstandings as well. For example I recently had a student come to my service desk asking about some periodicals. As I engaged her in conversation I discovered that the student had been searching on the internet for articles and was stymied when she got to the “order the article here” type messages. When I explained the access she had available to her through the university I could see the relief wash over her.

We are in good times right now at the WCU library. Not only is the current university administration very pro-library but there seems to be a lot of available funding. But as I said earlier, for-profit companies are aware of the increasing status of information as a commodity, and they are charging high fees for the privilege of access. What will happen when a new President comes to the University? This is not just a hypothetical question as the last President just retired. What will happen when the budget is reevaluated and more money is needed for facilities due to increasing energy costs? Regular users of databases more and more are coming to expect full text access, which of course costs more.

It used to be that you could go to an institution and view any of their materials, with the advent of databases however this is not possible. This may be leading to a kind of academic digital divide.

“Many small and medium-size academic libraries can't afford the databases,
which, despite a sliding fee scale, still cost thousands of dollars. Most
medium-size college or university libraries will carry the major
secondary-source online index to a particular discipline, so that one can at
least know that an article exists even if one doesn't have immediate access to
it via the expensive JSTOR, which offers full-text articles from a wide range of
disciplines. But comprehensive citations from historic journalistic sources
generally aren't available unless a library purchases the full-text database.”
(Patterson, 2007)

This may not seem like a problem but if you are near a large research library it would be inconvenient, and I would add a waste of resources, to have to request items through ILL that previously could have been taken right off the shelf.

In a more philosophical sense the value of information is incalculable. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom states that “intellectual freedom is the basis for our democratic system. We expect our people to be self-governors. But to do so responsibly, our citizenry must be well-informed. Libraries provide the ideas and information, in a variety of formats, to allow people to inform themselves.” (2007) Having access to information, and to read and hear a variety of opinions is one of the fundamental aspects of United States democracy. It is important that libraries continue to provide that access and the guidance to sort through it all. It would be a shame to allow consumerism to prevail over democracy.


American Library Association, (2007, May). Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q&A. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/basics/intellectual.cfm

Patterson, M. (2007, November 9). Struggling to Keep Up. Chronicle of Higher Education, 54(11), 72-72. Retrieved June 14, 2008, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database.

Rubin, R. E. (2004). Foundations of library and information science (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman, Publishers, Inc.