Towards a General Theory of the Digital Library
http://www.dl.ulis.ac.jp/ISDL97/proceedings/collier.html

Collier, Mel
ISRDP in Digital Libraries
1997

Abstract:

Debate about the digital library is clouded by emotion and self-interest. Emotion plays its part because the digital library is seen by some as a threat to the book, and a threat to the book is an attack on culture itself. Self-interest enters the fray because in the instability provoked by the digital library there will be winners and losers, whether in business, or the professions. Depending on your point of view the digital library can be the end of libraries as we know them, or the salvation of libraries as we know them.