A ℂ-linear map θ (not necessarily bounded) between two Hilbert C*-modules is said to be ‘orthogonality preserving’ if 〈θ(x),θ(y)〉=0 whenever 〈x,y〉=0. We prove that if θ is an orthogonality preserving map from a full Hilbert C0(Ω)-module E into another Hilbert C0(Ω) -module F that satisfies a weaker notion of C0 (Ω) -linearity (called ‘localness’), then θ is bounded and there exists ϕ∈Cb (Ω)+ such that 〈θ(x),θ(y)〉=ϕ⋅〈x,y〉 for all x,y∈E.

C*-algebras A of compact operators are characterized as those C*-algebras of coefficients of Hilbert C*-modules for which (i) every bounded A-linear operator between two Hilbert A-modules possesses an adjoint operator, (ii) the kernels of all bounded A-linear operators between Hilbert A-modules are orthogonal summands, (iii) the images of all bounded A-linear operators with closed range between Hilbert A-modules are orthogonal summands, and (iv) for every Hilbert A-module every Hilbert A-submodule is a topological summand. Thus, the theory of Hilbert C*-modules over C*-algebras of compact operators has similarities with the theory of Hilbert spaces. In passing, we obtain a general closed graph theorem for bounded module operators on arbitrary Hilbert C*-modules.