collections of books have come one step nearer to their readers—and no library has played a part in this dramatic convergence of reader and book. In the case of the virtual superstore, the reader controls the atmosphere, which need not be as public as a library or bookshop and may be as comfortable as reading in a lounge chair wearing fuzzy slippers and a dressing gown.

Most significantly, the rise of the book superstore has implicitly changed the overall economics of access to books and information. Where once a good public library was the best and most accessible source of materials for many, if not most, communities, bookstores of similar size may be a few doors down the block, open longer hours, and with enough copies of popular titles to satisfy almost all comers. And, most libraries and physical bookstores are dwarfed by online bookstores.

These book superstores offer a remarkably wide range of library-like services—lectures, discussion groups, ready access to books, a sense of community. What they do not yet offer is information service—labor-intensive, provided by experts—but it is probably not wise to predict that they will not continue to expand their range. For now, it is most noticeably the information navigation functions of the library—the instruction in finding, filtering, and evaluating information from a welter of available sources—and its provision of historical depth that the bookstores make the least attempt to supplant. Borders began its career with claims about the literacy and helpfulness of its staff, all of whom had to pass a test to demonstrate their book lore as a condition of employment. Even so, the information desk at Borders or Barnes & Noble is not much like the reference desk in even a very small library. Despite this, the library is less than ever a primary supplier of access to new and current books. Libraries continue, however, to be strong in providing access to both older and more specialized material.

Another implication of the shift in the economy of information is that collecting and storing materials are arguably somewhat less the jobs of the library than before. The current emphasis is on services. Indeed, many public libraries have always had this bias, retaining from among older books only those of continuing interest to their readers, while clearing out shelf space for what a current generation demands. That service emphasis is accelerating and may be expected to accelerate further. Why? Although 50 years ago the public or college library may have been the only place to find a copy of Boswell’s Life of Johnson or Dumas’s Man in the Iron Mask and for this reason may have held on to several copies, now the work is readily available in physical and online superstores and so may begin to be omitted from some library collections. (To admit this publicly may get libraries into trouble, but the practice of deaccession is a routine one that probably will accelerate.)

Front Matter (R1-R18)

Executive Summary (1-22)

1. Digital Revolution, Library Evolution (23-49)

2. The Library of Congress: From Jefferson to the Twenty-First Century (50-81)

3. Building Digital Collections (82-104)

4. Preserving a Digital Heritage (105-121)

5. Organizing Intellectual Access to Digital Information: From Cataloging to Metadata (122-143)

6. The Library of Congress and the World, Beyond Its Walls (144-162)

7. Management Issues (163-192)

8. Information Technology Infrastructure (193-213)

Afterword (214-216)

Bibliography (217-240)

Appendix A: Biographies of Committee Members (241-252)

Appendix B: Briefers at Plenary Meetings and Site Visits (253-260)

Appendix C: List of Letters Received (261-261)

Appendix D: Acronyms (262-266)