This paper discusses a vision of the transformation of the library from a repository of printed material to a digital library serving as a complete information center where distant learners can obtain support for their educational aspirations. Future information centers will be distant learner-centered. Factors discussed include: (1) distance learning and educational unification; (2) the library and mastery of a shared body of knowledge; (3) public pressure for library transformation through technology; (4) the realization of public interest; (5) future challenges to library transformation, including the growth of the World Wide Web, copyright and fair use issues, electronic mail, and electronic publications; (6) the future library as an information center; and (7) the future role of librarians as information specialists. Whether or not libraries will be transformed into the digital library of the future is dependent on technology and information issues. Future librarians as information specialists must learn new technologies and skills, and keep pace with technological developments in distance learning, in order to realize the transformation of the library into the future information center and to meet the increasing demands of distant learners. (Contains 12 references.) (SWC)