In electronic publishing the traditional steps between content owners and users are changing in scope and nature. Technological convergence between telecommunications, cable and ether media is an example of how traditional roles change, and of how actors who were in separate business sectors now are in competition with each other. In short the whole chain between content owners and user is melting into a continuum. At the originating end there is also a clear trend that creators feed directly into the value chain and bypass the owner-link, which is the traditional publisher. In scholarly communication this trend has been quite visible for years.
Libraries is one of the institutions in the traditional value chain.
The main role has been to provide logical and physical access information. Given the background of the functional properties of electronic documents and the changing nature of the value chain for electronic publications, the guiding principles for library work must be re-evaluated. In the following is outlined the elements of of a strategy for libraries that are necessary for managing electronic publications. Scientific communication will find new ways for distribution. It is necessary for the library to have a closer contact with the research community where material is created and disseminated.