Benjamin Franklin: Information Scientist

"The progress of human knowledge will be rapid and discoveries made of which we have at present no conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence" Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a statesman, scientist, inventor, and author who never realized the profound effect his work would have on those discoveries to come. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706, Franklin was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Though he read early and voraciously, he only attended formal school for two years. He became an apprentice to his brother, James, who was a publisher for a Boston paper. Before his apprenticeship was finished, Benjamin Franklin ran away from home, but not before learning the trade that would prove his success.

Landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Franklin opened a printing business, producing the Pennsylvania Gazette and the now famous Poor Richard's Almanack. It was in Philadelphia that Franklin would begin a political career that began in the Pennsylvania Assembly and took him to England and France as a representative for his fledgling country. It was his statesmanship, tact and personality that afforded the colonies financial support from France for the American Revolution.

Throughout his life Benjamin Franklin wrote, experimented, and sought knowledge for knowledge's sake. All these attributes make him a true Information Scientist. But his true contribution to the field of librarianship came with the creation of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Franklin was part of a group of philosophers called the Junto Club. In 1730, he came to them with the idea of bringing all their books into the club to be used by each other or referred to easily during their discussions. The idea grew into a subscription library. Initially there were fifty subscribers who paid 40 shillings to join and an additional ten shillings annually. By 1742 the library had doubled the number of subscribers, had three hundred volumes, and had moved to a new building in the State House. The United States of America's first public library was born.

Benjamin Franklin died in 1790 after making incredible contributions to the field of science, politics, and printing. From the discovery of the lightning rod to the ways we receive and disseminate information, his life left an indelible mark on this country.

Sources:

Bartleby.com. Internet on-line. Available from http://www.bartleby.com/ [5 May 2003].

Durham, Jennifer L. 1997. Benjamin Franklin: A Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc.

Holman, Louise A. 1916. Scenes from the Life of Benjamin Franklin. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company.

Seavey, Ormond. 1988. Becoming Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and the Life. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Zall, Paul M. 2000. Franklin on Franklin. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.

This site was created by Beth Ponder to fulfill requirements for Information Sciences 490, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Dr. Gretchen Whitney, Spring 2003.