The fact that all three discussion groups found it necessary to make a distinction between the end user and the institutional user acting as intermediary suggests that access management systems should be designed with such a distinction in mind. For libraries, publishers, and the communities they serve, networked access to scholarly information is not a completely new business, but an extension of an existing portfolio of services in an existing economic structure, with staff and customers familiar with old practices. The economic balance among authors, publishers, aggregators and other service providers, libraries, and users may adjust over time, but unless the adjustment is gradual, existing products and services are likely to suffer. Although participants were not asked to consider the interests of authors, it was clearly assumed that access management systems must be acceptable to authors who wish to disseminate their work to the scholarly and scientific communities. Simple business models reflected in effective access management systems would go a long way towards satisfying the needs of authors as well as other interested parties.
Academic users expect predictability and continuity.
They expect the electronic environment to offer the functional equivalent of privileges that exist under current copyright law as applied to physical works, including but not limited to fair use. Conditions on the use of electronic versions of articles that create new impediments to research, to teaching practice, or to collaboration across disciplines or between faculty and students are cause for substantial complaint. The academic user expects to have access to information and be able to use it for scholarly purposes at a reasonable price, preferably, but not necessarily, zero. Charges for photocopying and photographic reproductions are common in academic libraries, which may also charge for or limit use of other services. However, users expect free access to the information traditionally found on the library shelves, such as journals to which the library subscribes.