I am reading Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, which he wrote in two sections, one focused on his early life and settlement in Philadelphia, the other focused on his later years.
In the first part, he describes how he established himself as a printer and member of society in Philadelphia in the 1720s. He notes,
I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year, I had formed most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discussed by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be. under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.” (Isaacson, p. 453).
Later he describes how, in 1730, he proposed to the group that
. . . since our books were often referred to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we liked to keep them together, have each of. Us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was liked and agreed to, and we filled one end of the room with such books as we could best spare. The number was not so great as we expected; and though they had been of great use, yet some inconveniences occurring for want of due care of them, the collection, after about a year, was separated, and each took his books home again. (p.462)
The experience gave Franklin the idea for “my first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library.”
With the help of friends from the Junto, he achieved the first fifty subscribers at a cost to them of an initial fee of ten shillings, plus a commitment of fen shillings a year for fifty years. The project soon grew to 100 members. The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731, was, he wrote,
“the mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous . . . have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent s most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges.” (p. 462-463)
A 2017 Brookings Institution study noted new challenges to Franklin’s idea that have arisen as a result of the Information Revolution:
Smartphones, tablets, the internet, and other massive technological changes have reshaped the landscape. Information is easy to access and available to most individuals in their pockets. With a single tap or swipe, we retrieve and discover knowledge that would have taken days or months to find in Franklin’s time.
The rise of Open Educational Resources and streaming media in more recent times opens new vistas for realizing Franklin’s vision of openly sharing books and, more generally, information. The result will be a much more open access to information and ideas in a variety of media—an environment that Franklin would have appreciated. It is our challenge to build on Franklin’s vision in this new environment.
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