This would, of course, have a revolutionary effect on the role of libraries and the nature of the publishing and bookselling trades. The second important implication of the definition of the Electronic Library is in the fact that the documents can be used in electronic form. The use of digital electronic documents can go well beyond that of simply reading a text or seeing an image. These are important matters and everyone involved with libraries should be considering them. Another cardinal virtue of this book can be found in its emphasis on service to library users.
Libraries are, essentially, utilitarian constructs.
Libraries exist to serve and to be used. Michael Buckland clearly shows us the way to increase the service that libraries can deliver and to understand the likely demands of the library user of the future. Libraries, their collections, and technological advance are not good in themselves. It is a considerable achievement to have not only provided a cogent analysis of the past, present, and likely future of libraries but also to have used that analysis to point the way to the practical consequences of change. The author has done all the, too, in a brief compass.