A major challenge will be to develop methods to consistently and conclusively identify and retrieve information regardless of format or location. If libraries do collect digital information, it is far from clear that they could offer access to it. Copyright, an issue that seems to be unresolvable, could prevent libraries from providing open access to the digital information they collect. Questions of copyright must be addressed so that digital information can be made available through digital libraries in a manner that is satisfactory for both information producers and information users. Copyright must not become an insurmountable barrier to access.
Libraries provide access to information.
Ubiquitous Access We can assume that a global computer network, whether the Internet or some descendant, will be the primary means of communicating digital information. Equitable access is currently compromised by the fact that the Internet has few connections outside the more populated parts of Canada, and those connections that do exist are slow. For a digital library to provide equitable access to information, it is imperative that the network have the same universal availability that the telephone system does. Payment Another, more important, question that must be answered is that of cost. This assumption runs counter to one of the fundamental principles on which libraries are based.