Introduction

In this chapter we will give some historical context for the rest of the book, by looking at the development of recorded information, and the documents which carry it, throughout time. We will do this only very briefly and informally; there are many detailed treatments of the history of information provision and dissem - ination, and we will not try to replicate these in any way. We will give a historical perspective on specific topics in several of the chapters which follow; the history of information science itself has already been mentioned in the first chapter.

It is sometimes suggested that, since information science is a relatively young discipline, there is no need to think about the history of anything which came before, say, 1950. We disagree. Some appreciation of the history of information and documents, as well as being of interest in its own right, can help give a perspective on current problems and solutions. Although contexts and technologies may change, many information issues remain constant over time, and a historical perspective can be of practical, as well as academic, value. It is not possible to understand current information provision, and plan for its improvement, without appreciating how it has come to take the form which it has, and what commonalities and analogies there may be with past information environments. And we are not, in fact, faced with the choice posed by the opening quotation from Thomas Jefferson: reflecting on the information past can help us envisage the information future.