ABSTRACT
The author was a member of a generation reared on books and card catalogs, who reluctantly accepted computer word processing to save time in college but dived headfirst into cyberspace while in law school. As more materials are placed on-line and people become more accustomed to searching on-line for the information they desire, this will challenge traditional sales models for physical books. Like everybody else, libraries would have to pay for time spent using a copyrighted work on-line. As more books go on-line, the aggregate costs of making these payments will grow, and libraries without unlimited budgets will find themselves having to balance money spent purchasing physical books and money spent paying for online services. Slowly, the percentage of on-line books will increase relative to their aging pulp cousins. With the help of computer networks and the Internet, this will create a global virtual library. The virtual literary world will alter the social space of the library.
