Cataloging the world : Paul Otlet and the birth of the information age

Resource Information

The work Cataloging the world : Paul Otlet and the birth of the information age represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

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Label

Cataloging the world : Paul Otlet and the birth of the information age

Title remainder

Paul Otlet and the birth of the information age

Statement of responsibility

Alex Wright

Title variation

Paul Otlet and the birth of the information age

Creator

• Wright, Alex, 1966-
• trueWright, Alex

Subject

• Classification -- Books
• trueInformation management
• trueInformation organization
• Information organization -- History
• trueLibrarians
• Mundaneum -- History
• Otlet, Paul, 1868-1944
• Universal bibliography
• trueVisionaries
• trueWorld Wide Web
• World Wide Web -- History
• trueKnowledge
• trueBelgium
• Bibliographers -- Belgium -- Biography
• Cataloging -- History

Genre

• trueBiography

Language

eng

Summary

"The dream of universal knowledge hardly started with the digital age. From the archives of Sumeria to the Library of Alexandria, humanity has long wrestled with information overload and management of intellectual output. Revived during the Renaissance and picking up pace in the Enlightenment, the dream grew and by the late nineteenth century was embraced by a number of visionaries who felt that at long last it was within their grasp. Among them, Paul Otlet stands out. A librarian by training, he worked at expanding the potential of the catalogue card -- the world's first information chip. From there followed universal libraries and reading rooms, connecting his native Belgium to the world -- by means of vast collections of cards that brought together everything that had ever been put to paper. Recognizing that the rapid acceleration of technology was transforming the world's intellectual landscape, Otlet devoted himself to creating a universal bibliography of all published knowledge. Ultimately totaling more than 12 million individual entries, it would evolve into the Mundaneum, a vast "city of knowledge" that opened its doors to the public in 1921. By 1934, Otlet had drawn up plans for a network of "electric telescopes" that would allow people everywhere to search through books, newspapers, photographs, and recordings, all linked together in what he termed a réseau mondial: a worldwide web. It all seemed possible, almost until the moment when the Nazis marched into Brussels and carted it all away. In Cataloging the World, Alex Wright places Otlet in the long continuum of visionaries and pioneers who have dreamed of unifying the world's knowledge, from H.G. Wells and Melvil Dewey to Ted Nelson and Steve Jobs. And while history has passed Otlet by, Wright shows that his legacy persists in today's networked age, where Internet corporations like Google and Twitter play much the same role that Otlet envisioned for the Mundaneum -- as the gathering and distribution channels for the world's intellectual output. In this sense, Cataloging the World is more than just the story of a failed entrepreneur; it is an ongoing story of a powerful idea that has captivated humanity from time immemorial, and that continues to inspire many of us in today's digital age"--

Pace

• trueFast-paced

Writing style

• trueEngaging

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Dewey number

• 509
• 020.9

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Target audience

adult