Goal 2: Understand the essential nature of information and its relevance to society.
Outcome 2a: Describe various definitions and concepts of information.
LIS 712 was one my first classes, The History of the Printed Book. It was taught by a remarkable professor who took the class on an extraordinary journey to the Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanical Garden. In this special place we learned about the history of Gutenberg but also had a chance to study antiquarian books and write reports on them. In my case, I was able to study Flora Americae Septentrionalis; or a Catalogue of the plants of North America published in 1771. Looking at this book provided me with a historical context of how information was provided to society from that time period. The amount of work involved to even create quality works such as this is still mind-blowing to me.
This catalog of North American plants was quite valuable in its time. Nowadays botanical catalogs are still accessible in text books, but we likely have digital access to them. The majority of information transactions are completed electronically. I can look at back at my report and see the appreciation I felt for the historical information access in this respect. In the future, thirty years from now as we begin to see the distribution of virtual reality devices, one can only wonder how information distribution will look.
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