Prof. Stueart will discussinformation - its role, characteristics and value in a nation's political, economic, social and technological future. Issues of access to information vs. ownership of physical resources, and barriers to access - legal, physical, affordable, intellectual, organized - are addressed. In an information - intense, technologically-sophisticated climate, selection of just that right amount of information to resolve the problem at hand requires intervention of knowledgable professionals who can act as intermediaries, negotiators and facilitators. The need for national information policies to facilitate access to timely, economical and comprehensive information is emphasized. As a playful aside, Prof. Stueart concludes with a projection of the future of the physical book.

Prof. Stueart joined AIT in 1994 from Simmons College (Boston, USA), where he was Dean and Professor of the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences for 20 years. He also taught at the Universities of Denver, Wales (UK), and Pittsburgh, and was on the administrative staff at the University of Colorado and the Pennsylvania State University.