Introduction

Libraries have been a fixed element in organized societies, and have been engines of cultural and economic production. Libraries have enjoyed what is arguably the simplest and most enduring set of organizing principles of any cultural enterprise. Library collections need neither be immense nor global, however, to be brilliant. Collegiate and university libraries, public libraries, research libraries, national libraries, those of schools of divinity, law, and medicine, and specialized libraries of every kind will each adapt different criteria in their acquisition policies. If collections are the point of origin of a library's identity, then access to these collections is a necessary corollary. The final aspect of access that deserves mention is the reverse side of the digital library coin. Any dispassionate assessment of the library situation worldwide will inevitably conclude, the author believes, that technology is doing far more than revolutionizing our traditional notions of acquisitions, access, and preservation.