Organizational aspects of the virtual library: A survey of academic libraries

The virtual library is presently being investigated across disciplines, oft en with a strong technological emphasis. The present study takes an organiz ational approach by placing the virtual library in the context of the acade mic library, and focusing on opinions of the library directors concerning t he virtual library. The problem investigated refers to the propensity of ac ademic libraries to become organized as a virtual library, which is concept ualized in terms of four general models. Directors of academic libraries we re surveyed, and the literature on changes in the library organization was reviewed. It has been found that academic libraries exhibit visible organiz ational changes. When the Virtual library is concerned, however, library di rectors tend to understand it just as digital technology, are mainly suppor tive of such library, and demonstrate a number of limitations that prevent them from thinking of virtual libraries in more radical terms.