A national digital library of sufficient size, scope, and complexity would support a meaningful test of the effect of distributed digital libraries on equitable access, learning and scholarship, and the economics and organization of libraries. At the same time, large-scale archival projects are coming to the fore. Information Resources Humanists depend to a very considerable extent on libraries in their own and remote institutions, and on a network of museums, galleries, and archives. It concluded that libraries were continually losing ground as a percentage of expenditure by educational institutions, thereby exacerbating problems created by increasing costs of journals and exchange rate fluctuations. A national strategy is required for the holding, maintenance, and provision of access to such material.
Funding is needed, as well, to secure the conversion of information into electronic form.
Since many sources are of national and international significance, attempts should be made to support collaborative efforts to create electronic information sources and tools. The field of information technology is subject to rapid change. In the rush to exploit new ways of creating and accessing information, regulatory issues are often neglected or brushed aside. A case in point is the variety of coding systems devised by individual scholars for textual analysis of electronic texts, described earlier in this report. Standardization is always several steps behind innovation, but remains essential for information technology to yield real benefits.