Before turning to the OCLC vision of nationwide networking, a review of some of the issues that have influenced that vision are presented, including: technology as a driving force; library and information economics; the challenge of providing ever-proliferating services to an ever more computer-literate end user; the changing role of the library itself--in the university, college, municipality, or school system, and in the professions; the increasing role of commercial enterprises; and the increasing number of technology-driven local options and local cost-benefit considerations that ignore networking in a national resource-sharing environment. The paper then examines the OCLC vision of future networking in the face of strong decentralizing forces including: the continued development of "networks of networks" in the United States that create a nationwide network with no monolithic structure; greater cooperation and resource-sharing among the bibliographic networks; changes in networking concepts to accommodate technological change; and specific efforts that must be made at every level in the library and education community. Finally, OCLC's vision of national and international resource-sharing projects and their role in the future is discussed in light of directions set by the OCLC charter. A short list of references is included. (THC)