This article discusses two meetings which dealt with developments regarding the National Research and Education Network (NREN). In November 1990, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University held a symposium entitled "Information Infrastructure for the 1990s," whose participants represented a wide spectrum of economic, political, and social views. The four primary issues addressed by that symposium were: (1) high-end versus low-end users of a national computer network; (2) development of communications technology versus development of new services; (3) the scope of the network infrastructure; and (4) the management and organization of the national network. Two papers were presented at the symposium: "The Distributed Electronic Library System: Implications for the NREN" (Marvin Sirbu); and "The Digital Library System and Knowbots" (Vint Cerf). A hearing at the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in December 1991 focused on the subject of access to the NREN. Speakers included representatives from the Association of Research Libraries, Information International, Apple Computer Library and Engineering Computer Operations, the Coalitions for Networked Information, Old Colorado City Communications, EDUCOM, the legal department of DIALOG, Mead Data Central, the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Science Foundation, Syracuse University, and various OTA people. Brief examples of their testimony are included in this summary of the hearing. (DB)