Abstract
‘Real libraries’ and the services they offer have been centred on collections of printed materials, particularly scholarly books and journals. The timely combination of library automation and telecommunication has opened up the possibility of what some call the ‘virtual library’ or the ‘library without walls’. As perceived by the user, this is a ‘library’ to which he or she has convenient access through a personal computer.
Rapid progress in network technology has created the impression that the virtual library is already reality. This is a slight exaggeration. Access to the virtual library may no longer be a problem, but we are some way removed from full functionality of services (loans, document ordering and delivery, membership registration).
A key feature of the virtual library is that the user is at the centre of things: each individual user can create his/her own virtual library! The development of the virtual library is one of technology push stimulating market pull—in the form of user demand for more (convenient) services—which in turn calls for an organisational response on the part of the service suppliers.
Libraries and other parties must therefore urgently address the problems of the development of user-friendly services from the virtual library, their financing, and the reorganisation of traditional library services and resources (e.g., in the field of interlibrary loans, collection building, and classification).
In the Netherlands, technical progress towards the virtual library is threatening to outpace the organisational response. For the Dutch libraries, the answer to the question posed in the title is: No, not yet, but there is little time to lose!