ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century, librarians must manage the process of cooperatively constructing a virtual library system, requiring participation in access, preservation, and financial collaborations. The process could turn out to be relatively gradual, depending on how long it takes to digitize on a massive scale, improve interoperability tools, resolve copyright issues, solve preservation problems, extend Internet accessibility, organize expanding resources, refine search capabilities, and devise business arrangements that can financially sustain networks of libraries, operating as connected nodes rather than as walled-off enclaves. These are the major concerns for twenty-first-century library managers, and they all require external collaboration.
