ABSTRACT
Mediation is one of the three 'fundamental characteristics of the phenomenon of information' in the age of modernity. This chapter deals with the German information movement, especially its connections with Wilhelm Ostwald, a predecessor of those who later strove to improve the communication of scholarly information. It shows that collecting, organizing, advertising and educating were essential parts of the activities of early 'information institutions' and so are at the roots of German institutional arrangements for mediating information. The chapter examines the Ethnologische Gewerbemuseum Aarau, Switzerland, and the Internationale Monogesellschaft in which Karl Buhrer was active. It discusses that the organizations had similar aims of mediating access to information. The chapter describes that the 'information institutions' share an 'educational view', involving instructional activities in what we call today information literacy.
