LibraryLinks Spring 2006
Symposium Spawns Information Ages Exhibit
By Cheryl Spiese
The Libraries are currently featuring an exhibit entitled Information
Ages: Modes of Knowledge Transmission . Designed to provide an overview
of the various tools used to disseminate information throughout history,
exhibit materials taken from the Libraries’ collections illustrate
the use of cave paintings and petroglyphs, the emergence of clay tablets,
the revolutionary impact of the printing press, and current developments
in electronic and digital texts, just to mention a few.
The idea for this exhibit was prompted by the Libraries’ symposium, Funding
Our Digital Future , with its emphasis on the significant changes
that are affecting how we acquire and/or access the vast amount of materials
in non-print formats. Examining where we are going can often be informed
by knowing where we have been. Given the availability of space and materials,
the exhibit gives the briefest of overviews to a subject about which vast
amounts have been written. It is, therefore, extremely selective, with
examples taken from the Mediterranean and Western traditions.
The exhibit will remain on view through the summer.
