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The Ian P. Sharp Lecture on Information Science was established in 1990 wit h an endowment from Reuters Information Services (Canada) Limited in honour of its founding president and former chief executive officer. The lectures hip is intended to provide a forum for distinguished figures in information science and related fields. I.P. Sharp Associates, one of the world's lead ing numeric database companies, was founded by lan P. Sharp and seven colle agues. The Canadian company soon expanded, establishing a timesharing servi ce and pioneering the use of electronic mail. In 1976, the company installe d its own private, packet-switched network, and today it supplies the world 's major financial and economic centres with historical information and fin ancial products. In June 1987 I.P. Sharp Associates was acquired by Reuters Holdings PLC of London, the world's largest electronic publisher. Elizabeth Davenport is the tenth Sharp lecturer. The following is an edited version of the lecture presented at the Faculty of Information Studies, Un iversity of Toronto, on March 4(th), 1999.