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Unit 3: Place of Library in Dissemination of Information

What are some of the consequences of these characteristics? Notes
Because the giver is not a loser, information is often shared, informally and without
charge, so that the transfer does not come into the economic marketplace. This undoubtedly
contributes to the widespread belief that information should be ‘free’ unless there are
non-economic reasons against this (such as national security client confidentiality, or a
threat from a business competitor).
Because information and the occasions on which it is needed are so diverse, it is a
commodity about which there is likely to be much ‘consumer ignorance’ as to the best
source. Although – and indeed because – there is a great variety of information sources,
consumer knowledge of them is often very limited, and so there is little pressure on
sources to be cost effective. (Among the economic conditions for ‘perfect competition’ is
consumer treatment of all items on offer as equivalent. Since there is relatively limited
substitutability among information items, competition among sources to provide ‘best
buys’ occurs only within quite small groups of information products.)
Because information transfer is so often secondary to another activity, its provision is
often as a subsidiary to that activity and it is therefore subsidized. Industrial firms see
information as leading to production and commercial benefits; educational institutions
see libraries as contributing to teaching and research; government asserts the cultural
benefit of public libraries. All these agencies treat information as a ‘merit good’ whose
consumption is stimulated because it is believed to generate both individual and social
benefits. Newman (as cited by Levitan, 1982) goes so far as to distinguish such goods as
‘institutional information’, separate from ‘market-supplied information’ customs,
agreements, establishment in both private and public sectors, as well as information
transferred in the course of production, research, and teaching.

We therefore see information as a commodity that is highly subsidised and with considerable
consumer ignorance of the range and quality of its sources. The degree of specialization in
provision leads to spatial restrictions – since only major contributions can maintain a range of
specialized services the most widely dispersed general services – such as public libraries are, in
effect, in a monopoly position, and indeed in relation to the particular communities they serve,
most libraries are at least partial monopolies.

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Caution Subsidy reduces the inequality of individual resources and thus helps to push
demand up towards need; it increases individual benefit and social benefit.

However, together with monopolistic aspects, spatial restrictions, and consumer ignorance,
subsidy reduces the pressure on sources to maximize efficiency so that the quality of provision
is likely to be lower than it could be.

We are not going to attempt here any quantitative assessment of the extent to which provision
of information achieves maximum social benefit. The data needed for such an assessment – and
even agreement on ways to measure the benefits of information – is simply not available. What
we do wish to explore is this: are there any indications as to whether a move from print on paper
towards telematic access to electronic materials will increase or decrease social benefit, in general,
and opportunity of access to information in particular?

3.2.4 Information as an Economic Resource

Technological developments during the last twenty years are causing significant changes in the
pattern of information provision. The technology has arisen from the coming together of data

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