The Possibility of the Infinite Library: Exploring the Conceptual Boundaries of Works and Texts of Bibliographic Description

The frictions present in the philosophical underpinnings of bibliographic control in libraries are discussed by examining the treatment of the concepts of works and texts in the literature of bibliographic control against the theories of works and texts as developed by critical theorists such as Barthes, Deleuze and Guattari, and Hayles. A radical re-thinking of traditional conceptions of the work, text and information is required if we are to have a new vision of “the library,” especially one that truly approaches a “universe of knowledge.”