ABSTRACT
The World Wide Web (WWW) is a system for creating, organizing, and linking documents so that they may be easily browsed. The Web has transformed the ways in which we communicate, learn, and socialize, and it has changed the ways in which we think about information, information seeking, and interacting with information systems. It is, moreover, one of the principal factors underlying globalization, in the process creating a vast array of connections involving individuals, groups, institutions, and providing a platform that has redefined workflow in many organizations through computer-to-computer data interchanges as well as the creation of collaborative communities. The Web has succeeded because: 1) many relevant conditions were “right” and 2) it has relied from the outset on a simple, derivative architecture, consisting of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The Web's stewards have managed the continuing development of the underlying technologies in ways that have lead to gradual changes and subtle transformations, rather than radical shifts, while at the same time fostering innovation, most notably in the development of the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and proposal to develop the “Semantic Web.” The World Wide Web has had a profound effect on libraries and librarians, changing the way in which librarians relate to vendors, clients, bibliographic utilities, and other libraries, and giving rise to new, often highly creative approaches to serving readers.
