This paper looks at the idea of digital libraries as social systems. It gives a short account of what it means to define digital libraries as social systems, including the view of digital libraries as ecosystems or ecologies.
A focus on R. David Lankes’ idea of libraries as facilitators of conversation leads us to the sociology of Niklas Luhmann and the proposed view of digital libraries as an autopoietic social system. This essay will close with a brief look at how such a view could influence its future.