How technology may help or hinder the development of the digital library

The provision of a world-wide library will require the creation of global digital libraries. During the last ten years computing and communications technologies have developed to the point where it appears that the dream of making the world's collection of information available to all the people of the world may one day become reality. Today's technology has enabled a very modest start to be made on turning that dream into reality. Yet this very technology is enabling new information to be generated in unprecedented volumes in a form that, for the first time in history requires the application of sophisticated technology to translate it into a form that can be understood by human beings. Literacy is not enough and this alone poses major risks and challenges. This paper will review what key technologies will be required to develop the world-wide library, the lessons learnt to date and how well current projections match the requirements.