Provides a framework for examining the complex infrastructure needed to successfully implement a digital library. Highlights include database development, online public-access catalogs, interactive technical services, full-text documents, hardware and wiring, licensing, access, and security issues. (Author/LRW)

Considers the role of interlibrary loan and document delivery services in support of research collections and digital information. Highlights include current practices; licensing as it relates to interlibrary loan in the digital environment; distance education; the role of consortia; technical infrastructure; and archival retention versus…

Illustrates the ethical dilemmas of library collection development through three specific examples related to scholarly communication, including the ongoing effort by publishers to use licensing contracts to abolish interlibrary loans for information in electronic format. Considers information needs of clients versus optimizing public access to…

Discusses new ways of selecting information for digital libraries. Topics include increasing the quantity of information acquired versus item by item selection that is more costly than the value it adds; library-publisher relationships; netLibrary; electronic journals; and the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)…

Presents the Brown University Library experiences in purchasing electronic services to serve as a model for issues of budgeting for electronic materials in academic libraries. Topics include politics of budgeting; education of users; availability issues; access issues; consortia issues; ownership issues; tracking electronic product prices; and…

Addresses the topic of digital libraries from a planning perspective and examines policy issues. Discusses developing collections by providing access to remote files and/or creating a local collection; funding; considering what to digitize; copyright issues; storage costs; converting paper-based collections and catalogs; and reasons why to…

The University System of Georgia and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) built the innovative electronic library GALILEO (GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online system). This article describes the cooperation, leadership, and technology that made GALILEO possible; the proposal; planning and implementation; governance; current status; and future…

It is important that librarians research and plan to make the relationship between library collections and remote access comfortable and successful for users and the library. This article discusses the political, social, and economic advantages and disadvantages of remote access. (JMV)