Abstract

We have recently come through several decennial celebrations: the W3C, the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, D-Lib Magazine, and now Ariadne. What happened clearly in the mid-nineties was the convergence of the Web with more pervasive network connectivity, and this made our sense of the network as a shared space for research and learning, work and play, a more real and apparently achievable goal. What also emerged - at least in the library and research domains - was a sense that it was also a propitious time for digital libraries to move from niche to central role as part of the information infrastructure of this new shared space.

However, the story did not quite develop this way. We have built digital libraries and distributed information systems, but they are not necessarily central. A new information infrastructure has been built, supported by technical development and new business models. The world caught up and moved on. What does this mean for the library and the digital library?

In this article I will spend a little time looking at the environment in the early and mid-nineties, but this is really a prelude to thinking about where we are today, and saying something about libraries, digital libraries and related issues in the context of current changes.