Opening Keyote Address: Al Gore

By Chris Zammarelli, The Brookings Institution

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.