In David Lodge's novel Small World, the American professor Morris Zapp, remarking on the view of Rummidge University, says
"Look at the Library--built like a huge warehouse. The whole place says, 'We have learning stored here; if you want it, you've got to come inside and get it.' Well, that doesn't apply any more."
"Why not?", Persse set off again at a gentle trot.
"Because," said Morris Zapp, reluctantly following, 'information is much more portable in the modern world than it used to be. So are people. Ergo, it's no longer necessary to hoard your information in one building or keep your top scholars corralled in one campus. There are three things which have revolutionized academic life in the last twenty years, though very few people have taken in the fact: jet-travel, direct-dialling telephones and the Xerox machine. Scholars don't need to work in the same institution to interact, nowadays: they call each other up, or they meet at international conferences. And they don't have to grub about in the library for data: any book or article that sounds interesting they have Xeroxed and read it at home. Or on the plane going to the next conference. I work mostly at home or on planes these days. I seldom go into the university except to teach my courses."
I thought of this in reading Peter Brown's memoir Roads of the World, which particularly mentioned the revolution that photo-copying created. Brown discussed phone calls mostly in connection with this family. But he seems to have spent a good deal of time on airplanes and at conferences.
Brown mentions not only the use of photocopying in scholarly work, but in teaching, in the course packets one could arrange for students to get at Kinko's. The latter use ended, or at least was restricted, in 1991, when a number of textbook publishers won a lawsuit against Kinko's. I believe that I remember picking up a course packet or two from the Kinko's on Route 1 before they got out of that business. No doubt the packet or packets were for computing courses, but I don't remember which.
Professors regularly assigned us Kinko's packets when I arrived at the U. of Delaware in 1989. I still have them! They were inexpensive and allowed the professor to create their ideal anthology of readings. When the copyright suits began and Kinko's had to pay royalties, the prices increased ridiculously and the practice ended. Years later, when I was teaching, I may provided my students with one or two or twelve readings as PDFs via email, unofficially...
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