Opening Keynote Address: Al Gore

By Chris Zammarelli, The Brookings Institution

Former Vice President Al Gore discussed the roles of librarians in the information age and in influencing information policy during the opening keynote speech of the SLA Annual Conference on June 3, 2007.

After beginning with some anecdotes about his experiences just after the 2000 election, Gore discussed how the information age has redefined the work librarians do.  He noted that there is a misconception that the role of librarians has been "diminished" by search engines.  "Libraries are making headway in the challenge of telling people what librarians contribute in the information age," he said.

However, situations such as the EPA library closings show how pervasive such a misconception is.  He praised the EPA librarians and offered support in their battle over the closures.  "God bless you for hanging in there," he said, adding, "The rebellion lives.  Where you least expect it.  Actually, where I would most expect it."

Gore said that just because information is more readily accessible now doesn't mean information professionals are less needed.  In fact, he said, "The difficulty of finding what we need has increased."  This is because of what he called the "sheer volume" of information now available.

He said that while the rapid change of technology is a "big challenge," the basic skills of research remain the same.

Gore called information "the key strategic resource now."  However, it has always been a force of change.  He said that information became a liberating force in the middle ages after the invention of the printing press, and that freedom of information is the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.

However, the advent and growth of television as a news source has significantly changed what he called "the information ecosystem."  While print information represented the "meritocracy of knowledge," television news represents "a one-dimensional flow of information."  He said that this information is controlled by an increasingly smaller "group of large conglomerations."  He compared these companies to the medieval church, which previous to the printing press had tight control over the information available to the population.

While the internet represents a new challenge to television's dominance, he said that it is not influential enough yet.  However, he felt the medium has been gaining ground and will play a significant role in the upcoming presidential election.

Gore called on librarians to exert their influence on the policies that govern information.  He said, "We have everything we need to make a difference, except political will.  But that is a renewable resource."