The Cultural State of the Fin de Millenaire Library

The writings on the library of today exhibit some conflicts that strike at the purpose of the library. One the one hand, the library is seen as an extension of what could be termed a modern condition whose origins extend back in time about four centuries. On the other hand, it is seen as a reaction to that modern condition and may be reflective of a postmodern condition. This is not to say that the library follows an explicitly postmodernist program but that it embodies some of the characteristics of what observers have labeled as a particular cultural condition. This article is an examination of several writings in the field of library and information science as an effort to explicate some of the apparent discursive conflicts.