This article reports on a library renovation at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona which incurs complaints from professors and librarians about a shift from print to online materials. The $60-million project at Cal Poly is providing a difficult lesson in the challenges of library renovation, and in the changing role of one of the…

For some, it seems that the dream of a perfect research machine is almost within reach. Google announced late last year that it would digitize millions of bound books, making available online the full text of public-domain books and excerpts from works still in copyright. Thrilling and dazzling as the potential for research and distribution…

Although making college libraries accessible by computer appears simple to laymen, developing a fully digitized library is not simple. Many technological and behavioral questions are unanswered, concerning copyrights, accuracy, and the issue of who will use the new technology and how. In addition, users' desire for hard copy persists. (MSE)

A group of entrepreneurs is promoting an ambitious commercial venture to sell electronic books to university libraries. The library can buy an electronic copy of the book for the print version's price; provide users access through special formatting and software, allowing users to highlight and annotate but not print; and restrict access to one…