Although information has become the core focus of society, independent learners are bypassing the educational institutions that have responsibility for creating, storing, and disseminating information. One contribution educational institutions can make to independent learners is to teach them the processes by which to gain access to and make judgments about the information that is created and stored in the various subject matter disciplines. People who are classified as independent learners complain that information packaged into courses may be inappropriate--more or less than is needed or in more or less detail than is needed. Courses are an inefficient use of the independent learner's time, so he/she seeks alternative means of access to the needed information. To meet the independent learner half-way, the subject matter specialist can have at least three different functions: organize information in ways appropriate for each of the alternative means for its dissemination; teach how the subject matter is organized, how to gain access to it, and how to make judgments about its value; and perform a translator function to assist learners in their efforts to apply the information in their particular contexts. (YLB)