The document and its treatment at the end of the century

QUESTIONS ARE RAISED REGARDING THE EFFECTS OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY ON LIBRARIES AND LIBRARY SCIENCE, AND A REFLECTION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THOUGHT AND CULTURE -BASED UPON THE SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE SPHERES OF THE IDEAS OF CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE- IS OFFERED. THE KEYSTONE OF THESES EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, SIMULATION, ALTERS EVERY ASPECT OF INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY, INVADING A WIDE RANGE OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR AND, FURTHERMORE, IS IN MANY WAYS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL RUPTURE IN OUR FIELD. SUCH NEW TREATMENT OF INFORMATION DEMANDS CONSTANT UPDATING BECAUSE, THROUGH THESE TECHNOLOGIES, DOCUMENTS ARE TAKEN OUTSIDE OF THEIR GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT, TRANSCENDING OUR FOUR WALLS. THE TREATMENT REQUIRED BY DATA AND INFORMATION WILL REDEFINE THE UNIVERSITIES AND LIBRARIES THEMSELVES AND THEIR ROLE AS INTERMEDIARIES BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND THEIR SOCIAL FUNCTION.