In cooperation with Solinet's Monticello Electronic Library project and SURA , Virginia Tech is offering assistance to guide universities considering implementation of such a program. In fact, if academic journal publications are an indication, recent discussions on this topic seem to have been guided in large part by librarians. This is not surprising, considering that libraries at academic institutions have long served as repositories for theses and dissertations. From that standpoint, librarians already have a vested interest in how the matter of e-documents should be addressed, not the least of which are policies on formatting, storing, and accessing these documents for use by researchers in academia, business, and industry. The design of e-documents themselves is a conundrum, as librarians attempt to blend extant print technologies with electronic wizardry.
Librarians now face challenges barely foreseen a decade ago.
On the other hand, one might argue cogently that utilization of e-documents will soon equal if not outstrip that of traditional print versions, considering the exponential advancements in technology. For now, publishers, writers, researchers, and even librarians, can only guess as to how electronic texts may affect notions of copyright and related aspects of authorial control.