The virtual library, or from Ars Memoria to Xanadu.

Digitization does not imply only copying and storage on magnetic-optical media. It allows for new levels of storage and transmission, with high-speed access and unlimited possibilities for data processing. This calls for new approaches to memory and developing new methods of organizing data, similar to the way the Renaissance had to cope with the invention of the printing press. Encyclopedism, at the end of the twentieth century, needs a new approach to electronic data storage, retrieval, navigation and mapping. This results in a need to redefine the status and role of all participants, such as publishers and users. These are the sine qua non for open and safe networks which will define the future of virtual libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]