Society has gained alternative methods of disseminating knowledge and of publishing, bringing us closer to the creation of a true global village. Indeed, the advent of the Web and the explosion of the Internet occurred only seven years ago, bringing new ways of accessing all kinds of information. The world is not the same as it was twenty or even ten years ago.
Let us start by taking a look at the world in which we live. Walk down a path with me that examines choices around privacy, intellectual property rights, and access to quality information, core values that medical librarians support and rely upon every day of the year. Choices surrounding our fundamental beliefs in an age of disruptive technologies and value-changing economies are the theme of this paper. We, too, know of choices forced upon us with dizzying pace, choices made with adrenaline and exhilaration, agonizingly belabored, or often ignored. The stillness of the woods was not yet pierced by jet-propelled aircraft and, yet, Robert Frost knew then of roads not taken. The disruption of the interstate highway with its unrelenting straight lines had not yet cleaved the fences one from another. The rhythm of the crafted stone fences of New England marked the boundaries of the land. When Frost wrote these words in Vermont more than a century ago, he had no intimation of the myriad choices that overwhelm our senses today. These charming pastoral words evoke a not so subtle hint at the importance of choices made and opportunities unexplored.
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