Director Joyce Kirkpatrick supports 600 sales and marketing staff for several television networks, including CNN, located in offices in New York City, London, Brazil, France, and Japan. Fleming's vision of a virtual library allows for a hybrid collection and service structure based on ease of delivery and not limited to digital media. His firm mandated the gradual shift to virtual content, which Fleming estimates to be more than 85 percent of his annual budget, as a competitive decision. Space and related collection issues play a large role in the priorities of managers of virtual libraries. She now holds 50 magazines, compared with 250 four years ago.
Physical materials are of decreasing importance.
He knew he had reached the turning point when he discarded the print version of Shepard's Citations, a staple in legal libraries, and no one complained. When they move to a new location in the next 12 to 18 months, the staff of the Corporate Research Center at Turner is, in effect, making Kirkpatrick's cybrary smaller, too. She will be moving her office into the cybrary, allowing the growing sales force to take over her space. Not so long ago, corporate librarians viewed downsizing of their physical space as a signal of lack of support within the organization-a cause for alarm. Physical space is not a crucial factor in a truly virtual library, Kirkpatrick says, without a trace of paranoia.