I think that has been the impact of changing technology. That is where we are having trouble catching up because I tell my boss that changing the way we do things in the library is like trying to turn a battleship around. You can turn it, but you can't do it right away. The urge to merge is about the co-evolution of diverse organizations. They range from loose confederations to more centralized, controlled cooperatives.
Loose confederations are easier to form.
Individual libraries do not give up any autonomy but try to cooperate out of a sense of shared self interest. RLG tried this approach with cooperative collection development and the conspectus. The CIC libraries in the Midwest are taking this approach with their Virtual Library Initiative. The other model I see emerging, and it is a model that I think will be more effective, imposes more jurisdictional control and centralized finding and leadership over the cooperating libraries. This model has been most successful in Ohio with OhioLink, and now other states such as California, New York, Minnesota, and Illinois, are moving to this more structured model of cooperation.