This would enable a user, for example, to click on a word on a digital image and move to all other places where that word occurs, displaying the image of the source. Linking text to images is a very timeconsuming process and experiments to assist this by automation are already being conducted. Various approaches are now being tested for authenticating electronic documents, one of the most notable being timestamping which generates a unique number from the document. A server on the network then verifies the number. It is also possible to timestamp only certain SGML elements leaving user free to modify the rest of the text.
Institutional support is needed for such a system to operate well.
It is needed to guarantee the availability of the material, to ensure that it is supported, to manage updates in a controlled fashion and to monitor usage with the purpose of optimizing access and effort. Developing the system as outlined here is a collaborative process. It will involve scholars, librarians and computer scientists. It will entail much research to examine the needs of different groups and to identify those requirements which are common to several groups and can thus be satisfied by the same computer code. Flexibility and a path to enhancement are essential.