Introduction

On 3 and 4 November 2000 the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center hosted the Fleur Cowles Flair Symposium 2000: "The Infinite Library, Old Worlds and New: Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections in the Twenty-first Century." This international symposium on the future of the library brought together leading authors, publishers, librarians, university administrators, national policy shapers, representatives of leading foundations, and experts in information technology to discuss key issues facing humanities research and special collections in the new century. This volume includes selections from the papers delivered at the symposium. Reading them now recalls some of the interesting and highly charged discussions that took place following the delivery of these lively presentations.

Fleur Cowles presided over the fourth Flair Symposium. Her usual pithy remarks opened up many channels for thoughtful discussion, and her terse overview of the sweeping changes for libraries gave resonance to the entire conference.

The keynoter, Bill Chace, gave a fascinating talk that set the tone for the entire conference, and his Joycean rendition of libraries and their future delighted the audience and set us all off brilliantly, leaving us on our own to decide which of his two theses about book reading is "right."

After the presentation of a number of papers that praised the virtual world we now inhabit, sparks flew when Ron Schuchard and Warwick Gould charged in another direction and debated together the primacy of the real page as opposed to the virtual page. Schuchard discussed the digital revolution in comparison to the "emotions evinced in acid-free folders," while Gould spoke about trying to reconcile content and materiality with the computer age. Lisa Browar's intriguing paper on the complex relations of dealers and special collections seemed to fan the fire, addressing the complications superimposed on this already complex relationship by the digital environment.

Lynne Brindley, Alice Prochaska, and Prosser Gifford brought an important international dimension to the discussions, and, indeed, as we listened to these papers, we were forced to contemplate the global impact of digitization and other forms of electronic data. Brindley introduced us to the perplexities of "e-strategy" and "e-curatorship," while Prochaska explored the ways in which boundaries explode as "national" libraries become internationally available online. Gifford contemplated the need to "bribe, burrow, and brood" as ways to attract the "two-way traffic" of scholars and underutilized collections.

Richard Wendorf looked back at a conference held in 1992 at the Houghton Library, taking a Janus-like view of where special collections are in their evolution. In doing so, he gave us some interesting glimpses of where we have been, where we thought we were going, and how far we have come as our missions and operations are modified by the rising technological environment.

Peter Hirtle and Ellen Dunlap held the audience in rapt attention as Dunlap talked about the needs of fund-raising and planning, what she calls her "two ingredients" in the successful recipe for institutional development, while Hirtle's discourse on both the intentional and unintentional impacts of digitization on the changing shape of special collections led to much spirited conversation.

The speakers at the conference, while offering widely varied opinions, came to grips with many of the most pressing issues facing research libraries today. Collectively, they left an impression of acute observation, comprehensive understanding of the issues, and a complex but clearer picture of the world of "The Infinite Library."