Even though medieval manuscripts represent the most voluminous surviving artifact from the Middle Ages, the very nature of this resource presents challenges for usage. In an effort to preserve medieval manuscripts and to create broader and more economical access to their contents, many libraries have in recent decades sought to provide filmed copies of their manuscripts to users. Existing and emerging electronic technologies present numerous opportunities for overcoming challenges and underscore the need to create a long-term vision for "Electronic Access to Medieval Manuscripts." Computer cataloging projects and other databases from manuscript institutions around the world represent an enormous advancement in scholarly communication in the field of manuscript studies."Electronic Access to Medieval Manuscripts" is a three-year project to develop guidelines for cataloging medieval and renaissance manuscripts in electronic form. In addition to suggesting guidelines for content, the project will also develop standards for encoding both core-level and detailed manuscript descriptions in both MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) and SGML (Standardized General Markup Language). The emerging interconnectivity of MARC and SGML presents tremendous opportunities for "Electronic Access to Medieval Manuscripts." In structuring its program and goals, "Electronic Access to Medieval Manuscripts" also has sought to arrive at guidelines for encoding into MARC and SGML formats that will provide useful, economic and practical long-term alternatives to the libraries which select one of these options in the futures. (AEF)