The Library and Freedom of Information: Agent or Icon?

Abstract

It is through freedom of information legislation that states come closest to providing the full mechanism for access to files. Because the library holds information resources and provides services that promise access to information, it seems natural to suggest that the library, particularly the national library, is an agent for freedom of information. But the first element of true freedom of information is that a set of transparent and effective mechanisms exists so as to allow the right of access to be realized in practice; the second element is that access to files should not require the demonstration of any ‘need to know’. National libraries have collections of great size and diversity, and they can call on the resources of other libraries, nationally and internationally; but they are seldom open to all. Library access mechanisms can also be unduly complex, to the extent that only the committed user can get full value from them; in effect, libraries operate on a ‘need to know’ system. Libraries serve many invaluable purposes, but they are not so much agents of freedom of information as iconic representations of national commitment to freedom of information.