INFORMATION ACCESS AND EXCHANGE AMONG SMALL WORLDS IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY: THE ROLE OF POLICY IN SHAPING INFORMATION BEHAVIOR IN THE POST-9/11 UNITED STATES

Every democratic society relies on deliberation and dialogue between social groups with varying perspectives to provide for the representation of the diverse members of the society. Meaningful deliberation is based on open access to information by individuals and free exchange of information between different social groups. Policy developments in the United States since September 2001, however, have altered the roles of information in many social contexts, with impacts on information access and information exchange between social groups. These changes have the potential to be of great consequence to social and political uses of information in society. Libraries, as established guardians of diverse perspectives of information, are in a unique position to protect and preserve information access and exchange in this new policy environment.