ECO,UMBERTO ON LIBRARIES - A DISCUSSION OF DE-BIBLIOTHECA

Librarians have a perennial interest in scholars' reactions to librari es, librarians, and library services. Yet with few exceptions scholars rarely take the opportunity to comment directly on libraries. This ar ticle discusses some exploratory observations made by Umberto Eco in ' 'De Bibliotheca,'' a lecture later published as an essay. Eco's point of view is scholarly and yet somewhat whimsical, mixing fantasy, satir e, and reflective analysis for a broadly intellectual effect, and make s a plea for embracing technological change in libraries through incre ased reliance on the instruction of the user. He also develops the ide a of the library as a locus of creative work-rooted in the most fundam ental meanings of the act of collection-which is at partial odds with the reality of the library as a hierarchically structured organization . On the way to these conclusions he makes some points that deserve wi der attention.