Libraries of all types and in all settings must develop a global vision of international networked collections and services. This model views libraries as both providers of worldwide information resources and gateways for users to knowledge which is increasingly digital in form.

The successful transition to the global digital library will require recognition and understanding of a series of twenty-one radical changes which are transforming the information service and network environments:

• the quality revolution is dictating a new philosophy of service and an expanded focus on users as customers
• the reengineering revolution is demanding a fundamental rethinking of processes and structures in the face of economic trends and expanding market competition
• the privatization/outsourcing revolution is moving basic operations out of the organization to external providers
• the demographic revolution is reflecting dramatic trends in the diversity of the populations and sectors being served
• the personal computing revolution is at the Core of individualized technology and the expanding power to access, analyze and control information
• the individualization revolution is developing software that tailors technology to personal interests and needs
• the electronic revolution is producing vast amounts of digital information in all medial and intelligent software that enables effective search and retrieval
• the network revolution is creating a vast telecommunications we band critical platforms for a renaissance in such areas as personal communication, publishing, learning, and commercial experimentation
• the cellular revolution is enabling an expanding sense of freedom &am place, of being able to communicate and access information whenever and wherever
• he robotics revolution is advancing programmed mechanical tools and intelligent agents that assume and expanding percentage of work in an organization or industry
• the music television/video games revolution is cultivating a generation of new learners and consumers who demand a more graphical, integrated and interactive multimedia presentation of information
• the self-service (ATM) revolution is encouraging a fundamental rethinking of user services in an environment where user initiated and controlled activities are becoming commonplace
• the user expectation revolution building a confidence in technology which outstrips our collective ability to deliver
• the values revolution is highlighting the growing political and social schisms in our societies under the impact of technology change and the increasing threats to intellectual freedom, privacy and the free flow of information
• the accountability revolution is requiring new strategies for organizational support and survival as funding agencies, investors, and political leadership seek to control costs and assess productivity and quality
• the organizational change revolution is provoking bold experimentation in structures and working relationships as flatter and more flexible management styles are created
• the learning revolution is redefining the nature and focus of education and scholarship as schools at all levels seek to reposition themselves as agents of economic growth, social change and upward mobility
• the partnership revolution is promoting higher levels of cooperation and collaboration among organizations as a fundamental requirement for success and as a tool for resource sharing
• the knowledge worker revolution is dismantling many of the trad.itiona1 and rigid definitions of job and employee, and encouraging a team-based workforce of self-adapting and self-improving individuals
• the knowledge management revolutions spawning a new relationship among researcher, librarian and information technologist which maximizes the usefulness of data gathering and information generation
• the global awareness revolution is supporting the internationalization of all aspects of life and encouraging a new world review of library collections and services in a global, networked environment