ABSTRACT
A digital library might be viewed as relatively effective or ineffective depending on "internal" criteria such as the costs of transactions or the amount of material available. In social theory, systems are organized groups of elements that strongly interact with one another and have a relation to an external environment. Rational systems models describe organizational behavior as purposeful moving toward defined goals with formalized processes. Open natural systems models help us understand the role of external conditions in shaping action and response by the model's elements. They also examine the consequences of survival struggles on formal behavior and structure. The publication-centered schema depicts one way of integrating digital libraries into faculty work life. This schema shows how distributed databases can bypass some steps in producing and disseminating paper publications. Librarian-centered schema reflects the beliefs of those librarians who portray themselves in a central role in proving research materials for faculty.
