Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to discuss the characteristics of Wells' ideas and their differing from those of Otlet, starting from the premise that Otlet was a social scientist with a well-defined ideological perspective and that Wells was a writer who was recognised first and foremost for his science fiction novels, but who worked in a scientific context that provided him with a greater knowledge of the scientific innovations and expectations of his time, as demonstrated in his books. Design/methodology/approach-The methodology that was used was the comparative and the hermeneutic methods. These ideas are compared in a context where the need to offer universal access to information is more and more frequently discussed. This paper is based on the idea that the works of Wells were independent and different from those of Otlet. Findings-This analysis concludes that Wells's offers are different from those of Otlet. Originality/value-This article highlights Wells's contributions for the conformation of a universal access to the digital information.