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Digital libraries extend and augment their physical counterparts by amplifying existing resources and services and enabling development of new kinds of human problem solving and expression. They offer new levels of access to broader audiences of users and new opportunities for global exchange and understanding.

Just as air travel has brought geographically dispersed people closer together physically, linking the world’s diverse intellectual and cultural collections can lead to deeper understanding and wider cooperation. Given this potential and motivated by the visionary statements and articles of Vannevar Bush, JCR Licklider, Ted Nelson, and others, many researchers, developers, and practitioners have pursued the goal of a worldwide digital library. The key to realizing such a vision is funda-