In many cases, the quality of an index is determined by what it does not index. Barry predicts that a hybrid library, providing access to a large range of digital and print information, will dominate the future if the problems of desktop delivery can be solved. The final day of the conference opened with a plenary panel discussion on digital libraries. Peter Lyman, university librarian at the University of California Berkeley discussed the social functions of digital libraries. In a digital environment, he said, the user can be anonymous, so frank responses and risk-taking are encouraged, and distinctions between users disappear.
Intellectual property becomes the basic structure of power.
We are currently in an experimental time, but the law will eventually define how we access and use information. Giving information away is not sustainable. Neither is the contract model because no business hostile to its users can survive. The Web has revolutionized the concept of authorship and has fostered the formation of teams based on expertise, according to Lyman. No longer do people have to work at the same institution or be at the same geographic location to collaborate or exchange information.