Who is The Encyclopedia Salesman from Welcome to the Monkey House and what is their importance?

The encyclopedia salesman is passing through Barnstable when he decides to stop at the oldest library building in America. He is disgusted to find that their reference section is completely out of date. The salesman is an outsider in Barnstable and seems repeatedly confused by the "backwards" ways of the town. The Yacht Club is really a shack and there is no where good to eat in town. To the salesman, Barnstable just seems boring and run down. He eventually gives up and retreats to the comfort of Hyannis. Playing miniature golf at Playland brings him comfort. The salesman is representative of a fast-moving passerby, who cannot understand the slower ways of the tiny village.