Libraries and infonnation in science fiction by Louise M. Goodall, B.A. A Master's Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Arts degree of Loughborough University. September 1997 Supervisor: Mr Alan Poulter, B.A., M.Se. Department of Information and Library Studies © Louise M. Goodall, 1997 ABSTRACT Investigates the ways in which libraries and information are represented in science fiction. Establishes that science fiction is a particularly sensitive form of literature for reflecting the society in which it was produced, and that as such it may have insights into the library and information profession. Science fiction texts discussed were chosen as representative canonical examples. The texts used are : George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, William Gibson's Neuromancer, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. It concludes that SF omitts to represent libraries in most instances, but portrays information as a vital resource. , .!CI;:.s::o ~l.s ii t..... .:.;.: .... · =- . ..,1 i /'C!; 40 15 7--3-0···~1 t,·.' ~ No. ~ ·.~n:'';'"N;...:...~"..._".:.H_'''''''''''''_''\'''P'M'''''',''''' ' KobSI"Z.!>1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Alan Poulter, my supervisor, for the help and guidance he has provided me with while writing this dissertation. Thank you also to Emma for her unfailing support, and to the rest of my family for their concern and interest. iii CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Contents iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1 : Libraries and Information 4 References 12 Chapter 2 : Science Fiction 13 References 20 Chapter 3 : Control 22 References 39 Chapter 4 : Electronic Information 42 References 58 Chapter 5 : Preservation 60 References 76 Conclusion 78 Bibliography 80 iv INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to establish if, and in what ways, libraries and information are represented in science fiction. If libraries and information are portayed, is the portrayal positive or negative? What aspects of information work does science fiction consider to be most important? From these representations any consensus of views may be of use to the library and information profession in assessing the importance placed on its work by society. Furthermore, themes which prove to be repeated throughout the genre may be said to be those issues of most importance to the library user. These, then, should surely also be those issues on which the library and information profession places most importance when considering how service provision should be developed. Popular literature might be said to reflect, or inform, popular thought. If this is the case then insights about our society which can be gleaned from popular literature could prove valuable to any interest group or professional body. Science fiction (SF) is felt to be that form of literature most sensitive to the climate in which it is produced (1) and for this reason should provide particularly acute comments. SF is also a genre particularly suited to an enquiry into information related matters as it concentrates on knowledge and has a strong sense of its place within history (in its broadest sense, and also within literary history and its own genre history) and of its role as a producer of knowledge (see chapter two). 1 Methodologically speaking SF texts have been chosen which are considered to be thoroughly canonical examples. There are such vast numbers of SF novels and stories, not to mention media SF, that it would have proved impossible to canvass them all. For this reason representative texts had to be selected. That the texts belong to the SF canon allows for no danger of distorting the development of the arguments of this study by introducing texts which might lie outside the genre. Chapters one and two discuss the themes important to a consideration of libraries and information and SF. The strongest themes linking SF and libraries and information proved to be : free access and its key role in ensuring democracy; preservation of information as an element of free access; and the electronic future of information and its potential for increasing or decreasing access. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was chosen to represent SF dealing with the control of information being used to prevent the possibility of democracy; Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was chosen to represent the issues surrounding the preservation of information; and William Gibson's Neuromancerwas chosen to explore what consequences the electronic future of information might have. These issues are developed in chapters three to five. Inevitably there is some consideration of each of these themes outside the chapter to which they are assigned owing to the thoroughness with which some of the authors have treated the subject matter. Texts other than the three main ones mentioned above serve to reinforce or expand upon the issues discovered in the main texts. 2 REFERENCES 1. Grifflths, John. Three tomorrows: American, British and Soviet science fiction, 1980, p.S3. 3 CHAPTER 1 : LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION In considering the representation of libraries in science fiction we must first de.cide what we mean by a library. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a library as "a place set apart to contain books for reading, study or reference" (1). However, a library should not be defined as a building but as an institution recognisable by the social functions it performs. S.R. Ranganathan attempted to define the functions of a library by writing his Five Laws of Library Science: Books are for use. Every reader his book. Every book its reader. Save the time of the reader. Library is a growing organization. (2) In this way Ranganathan reiterated the library profession's central ideal of free and equal access to information, as any factor which runs counter to the Five Laws reduces access. The main purpose of the library is therefore to ensure access, but how is this achieved and why is access so important? In the UK the main structure for information access is the public library system. This system is provided free of charge to any member of the community. Within the library the information is arranged in such a way that it can easily be found. This organisation of information is very important as a heap of books on the floor, though containing a great deal of information, is worthless to the citizen with a particular query to be answered. This difficulty is traditionally overcome by the use of classified sequences and a classified catalogue and is vital in the observance of 4 Ranganathan's fourth law. In an Office of Arts and Libraries document entitled Setting objectives for public library services the objectives are to encourage: democratic, cultural and economic activities; educational development; positive use of leisure time; reading and literacy; and the use of information and an awareness of its value (3). One of the fundamental issues surrounding public libraries is the provision of fiction. That a large proportion of the public library budget is annually spent on popular romances, detective fiction and science fiction has recently come under some attack. That libraries stock popular fiction fulfils those objectives of encouraging cultural activities, aiding educational development, encouraging positive use of leisure time and promoting reading and literacy. Margaret Drabble has commented on the importance of fiction: Novels are not, as all who read and write them know, a frivolity, a luxury, and indulgence. They are a means of comprehending and experiencing and extending our world and our vision. They can exercise the imagination, they can widen our sympathies, they can issue dire and necessary warnings, they can suggest solutions to social problems, they are the raw material of the historians of tomorrow. (4) Fiction is actually as important a part of promoting the democratic process as any factual document could be, perhaps more so as a novel can capture the imagination and excite the reader in a way that a government document, for example, could never do. Therefore freedom of access to fictional material also needs to be preserved. Information has been said to be the currency of democracy (5) and it is as an aid in the democratic process that freedom of information is considered to be so important: 5 ... much of the political unrest one observes at "grass roots" is often the result of a lack of access to basic information. In many situations individuals and communities need information before something happens; for instance to help them influence proposed legislation. (6) . Adequate information is therefore essential to allow political action to take place. By the same token, its removal would result in the decline of democracy. Archibald MacLeish commented on the destruction of the freedom of information in occupied areas during the second world war in his 1971 book Champion of a cause: The murders of the teachers, the writers, the intellectuals, the burning of books and the pillage and destruction of libraries ... are open and visible proof ... that ... the principal weapons and the principal defences of a free nation are the books and the organizations of books, which serve it. (7) MacLeish also makes it clear here that the library serves the interests of the community before any other interest. This brings into the arena another important question. What is the role of the librarian in serving the community? Richard Sweeney says of the information professional: Librarians should not be defined by a place - i.e., a library or even by a type of media such as the book. They should not be defined by print, audiovisual materials or computers either. Librarians must be defined by their service-activity for people. (8) The traditional activity for librarians has been to provide whatever information they are asked for without question. This may be termed the librarian's neutrality.