The Virtual Library: Pitfalls, Promises, and Potential
The Virtual Library: Pitfalls, Promises, and Potential
The virtual library, this vision of the library of the future, conjures up a variety of images to each of us. [1] To some, the virtual library connotes the ultimate fear: obsolescence of the librarian. To others, the virtual library offers the promised land: the utopia of information access to all. We have all heard the term virtual library used in a widely varying set of scenarios, with equally diverse concepts of what it is, how it will come into being, what it will mean for each of us as librarians, and what it will mean for our patrons. But what exactly does the virtual library encompass? For the purposes of this paper, I'm going to confine my definition to the more generally accepted components of the emerging virtual library. The most fundamental precept of the virtual library is the universal application of advanced high- speed computing and telecommunication capabilities to the access and delivery of information resources. Carried to its ultimate end, the virtual library offers a universe of information to any user, anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night through the power of a personal computer with telecommunication capabilities. While none of us would suggest that the virtual library is a fully realized concept today, I would argue that it is more fully developed than many of us realize and that many of you are contributing to the advancement and acceptance of the virtual library. 2.0 Evolution Not Revolution The virtual library is not something to be feared, nor is it the ultimate answer. It is another step in a long evolutionary process in which librarians, publishers, the scholarly community, and others have made information available for the advancement of knowledge, the joy of learning, and the mere satisfaction of human curiosity. After all, this is why we all became librarians, this is what librarians do, and this is what we will continue to do in the future. The virtual library is merely another tool to assist us in our goal of serving our patrons.
