The infrastructure to migrate electronic documents reliably is not in place and the costs and risks are high. Because everyone else is . In an attempt to be able to say they are creating digital collections some libraries are undertaking conversion projects without understanding the resources it takes and without careful analysis in their choice of collections. The internet is remaking higher education, as well as scholarly culture and communication. Libraries are uniquely placed to participate in shaping that future so that it serves in the best interests of research and instruction.
Electronic access is in many ways an improvement.
Virtual collections can pull together disparate and large collections that couldn't be physically viewed at one time and place. The ability to tap image databases and to integrate text and images will enrich scholarship. Electronic journals with links to citations offer efficiency. Conventional scholarly research will be enhanced by electronic access to media collections. These materials, which have always been difficult to access, can now be incorporated in research publications and easily exchanged between scholars.