It seems clear that one of the primary functions and goals of libraries and librarians in our societies is to connect people with information, whether it be in the form of a book, manuscript, painting or digital document. But what is not clear is how this connection in fact takes place, which is essential to understand if librarians are to design and manage their libraries most effectively. It is the purpose of this paper to argue that there are two distinct ways in which people come in contact with information, namely self-initiated acquisition of information and environment-imparted acquisition of information, and that the former is dependent upon the latter. Given this, this paper argues that the present state of librarianship is catering primarily to self-initiated acquisition and paying little attention to environment-imparted acquisition of information, and that as a result, the connection of people with information is not as effective as it could be and indeed should be, if we are striving to live in societies the foundations of which are well educated individuals.