Passage 1

With a population of approximately 7 million and an area of 1,580 sq km, London is by far the largest city in Europe, a distinction it has maintained since the 17th century. In the 19th century it was the biggest and most influential city in the world, the centre of a large and prosperous overseas empire. Though no longer among the world’s most populous cities, this vast metropolis remains one of the world’s financial and cultural capitals, physically spread out and dispersed, without a predominant focal point.
    One of the world’s great centres for classical and popular culture, London has enjoyed a reputation for superb theatre since the time of Shakespeare in the 16th century. The sheer number of symphony orchestras is impressive and some of the most renowned concert halls provide favorable venues for the profusion of performance in town. A living museum itself, London boasts one of the greatest concentrations of significant museums of any city in the world.

Any deep transformation in our ability to gain access to data, information, and ultimately knowledge will necessarily have profound effects on higher education. There are moments of real transformation, and the rapid emergence of the Internet is one of them. The last time universities experienced such far-reaching change in information processing was during the first quarter of the twentieth century. It was then that the university libraries reached their point of "takeoff" in accelerated development.
    Why I believe the Internet is already having—and it will continue to have—such a major effect on higher education? To begin with, there is steadily mounting evidence of dramatic change and intensity of use in university education. More fundamentally, there is a critical interlock between the structures and processes of the Internet, and those of university teaching and learning. Students can carry forward their work on the Internet in ways that are similar to the traditional ways that they study and learn in libraries, classrooms, seminars and laboratories.