LEADER 02276nam a2200181 a 4500
001 12615
003 TNML
005 20141106105918.0
008 180319s2014 enka g b 001 0deng
020 $a9780199931415 (hbk.) :$cNT$980$
035 $a823686
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$dYDXCP$dBTCTA$dBDX$dOCLCO$dNLGGC$dUKMGB$dYAM$dOCLCO$dABG$dCDX$dOCLCF$dCHVBK$dAU@$dTWTNM
050 00$aZ1004.O83$bW75 2014
082 00$a020.9
100 1 $aWright, Alex,$d1966-
245 10$aCataloging the world :$bPaul Otlet and the birth of the information age /$cAlex Wright.
260 $aOxford ;$aNew York, NY :$bOxford University Press,$cc2014.
300 $a350 p. :$bill. ;$c22 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 311-335) and index.
520 $a"In 1934, a Belgian entrepreneur named Paul Otlet sketchedout plans for a worldwide network of computers--or "electric telescopes," as he called them--that would allow people anywhere in the world to search and browse through millions of books, newspapers, photographs, films and sound recordings, all linked together in what he termed a réseau mondial: a "worldwide web." Today, Otlet and his visionary proto-Internet have been all but forgotten, thanks to a series of historical misfortunes --not least of which involved the Nazis marching into Brussels and destroying most of his life's work. In the years since Otlet's death, however, the world has witnessed the emergence of a global network that has proved him right about the possibilities--and the perils-- of networked information. In The Web that Wasn't, Alex Wright brings to light the forgotten genius of Paul Otlet,an introverted librarian who harbored a bookworm's dream to organize all the world's information. Recognizing the limitations of traditional libraries and archives, Otlet began to imagine a radically new way of organizing information, and undertook his life's great work: a universal bibliography of all the world's published knowledge that ultimately totaled more than 12 millionindividual entries. That effort eventually evolved into the Mundaneum, a vast "city of knowledge" that openedits doors to the public in 1921 to widespread attention. Like many ambitious dreams, however, Otlet's eventually faltered, a victim to technological constraints and political upheaval in Europe on the eve of World War II. "--$cProvided by publisher.
600 10$aOtlet, Paul,$d1868-1944.
610 20$aMundaneum$xHistory.
650 0$aBibliographers$zBelgium$vBiography.
650 0$aUniversal bibliography.
650 0$aDocumentation.
650 0$aClassification$xBooks.
650 0$aInformation organization$xHistory.
650 0$aWorld Wide Web$xHistory