The Electronic Library. As libraries continue to acquire and develop collections based in digital media, they face a corresponding need to document the electronic data comprising such collections. By documentation I mean the provision of contextual information pertaining to the source, creation, processing, and current state of a digital object. When libraries create digital image collections, however, documentation becomes more problematic. Even if an image is surrounded by a robust network of supporting materials, the functionality of client-server networks such as the World Wide Web permits the image to become detached from its documentary apparatus.
Every image encountered on the Web, is cached, at least temporarily, on the viewer's hard drive.
Documentary information that is merely presented 'alongside' an image is left behind at that point, as it also is should the viewer choose to save a copy of the image for further reference. The Electronic Library. Librarians are constantly urged to gain technological knowledge or jeopardise their professional importance. This necessitates change for many librarians and often produces feelings of anxiety. One behaviour psychologist advocates change as a process consisting of several stages.