general question about lazy loading of shared libraries

[John Ellson]

This is general linux question, rather than specifically FC4 devel, but 
I'm hoping there are experts here that will know.

Are shared libraries on linux loaded lazily?  i.e. not until the 
application invokes a function in the library?

If so, how can I convince myself that it is working?
If I run my application in a way that should not use a particular .so, 
how can I see that it is not loaded?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

John Ellson