The most serious changes facing libraries derive from the requirement to serve a whole new style of learning, highly dependent on the World Wide Web and on remote access to content in digital form. The whole text, not just bibliographical data, must be accessible. Professional help, like reference librarians, must be available to students who want to access library resources at anytime, from anywhere. Access to specialized resources must be arranged for all members of work groups that may span multiple institutions on several continents. Physical libraries, in addition to housing traditional collections, must also provide ports and computers, team meeting spaces with network connections, and spaces for experiencing multimedia and virtual reality presentations.
Technology also creates opportunities that libraries have never had before.
Unique collections can be digitized and shared with broader audiences. Crumbling acid paper publications can be digitized once and archived for the benefit of many. Publications can be created in digital form, with the added attraction of multimedia illustrations. And scholarship can be enhanced through customized services for individual patrons. Libraries depend on each other's resources so extensively that users often do not know where the information they are using resides.