5. Dissemination:
There's a lot of talk about the "electronic library".  Actually, there's
a lot written about the electronic library, and probably much of it ends
up on paper.  Most of us agree that for anything longer than a one-
screen email message, we'd much rather read documents off a paper page
than off a screen.  While we can hope that screen technologies will
eventually produce something that truly substitutes for paper, this
isn't true today.  So what happens with all of those electronic works
that we're so eager to store and make available?   Do we reverse the
industrial revolution and return printing of documents to a cottage
industry taking place in homes, offices and libraries?

Many people talk about their concerns for the "last mile" - for the
delivery of information into every home.  I'm concerned about the last
yard .  We can easily move information from one computer to another, but
how do we get it from the computer to the human being in the proper
format?  Not all information is suited to electronic use.  Think of the
auto repair manuals that you  drag under the car and drip oil on.  Think
of children's books, with their drool-proof pages.

Even the Library of Congress has announced that they are undertaking a
huge project to digitize 5 million items from their collection.  Then
what ?  How do they think we are going to make use of those materials?

There are times when I can only conclude that we have been gripped by
some strange madness.  I have fantasies of kidnapping the entire
membership of the administration's IITF committees and tying them down
in front of 14" screens with really bad flicker and forcing them to read
the whole of Project Gutenberg's electronic copy of Moby Dick.  Maybe
then we'd get some concern about the last yard.