FROM THE BOOK

"Knowledge is information, whether it is hardcore data or a poetic narrative. In order for it to exist, it must be compounded by communication, and the ideal equalitarian agent for this task is the public library. For knowledge is the library's commodity, and as a result it attracts producers and consumers of knowledge as with any business, the library--the public library in particular--must therefore remain aware of and be adaptable to any chances and influences that modify the demand and supply of its product.
As consumers a great many things distract us, and as producers of knowledge we seem unaware of the collective potential of our contribution a consequence of our seemingly utopian abundance of knowledge is that the attention span needed to process information has been affected and in many cases grown shorter and splintered in other words, the relationship between the production of information and its communication and reception has become disproportionate. A situation that could have serious repercussions for the social, cultural and even economic progression of our society.
…Architecture carries with it both the expectation of finding solutions for organizing and defining space, as well as the task to engage with all the stakeholders in doing so. In the case of the public library, the architecture of knowledge is also the architecture of society."

Huib Haye van der Werf, excerpted from his introduction to The Architecture of Knowledge.