The rise of electronic journal aggregators which act as middlemen between publishers and libraries has also created both rewards and shortfalls. Libraries which ceased subscribing to the print version suddenly found themselves without the electronic subscription either. Aggregators and publishers together continue to raise their prices to libraries, based on the number of simultaneous users desired, the campus population, consortial relationship, or some other pricing model. Licensing arrangements are stringent, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with its many caveats but still inarticulate definitions of what is legal, complicates library acquisitions and other services. Technology has also affected preservation efforts.
Libraries are the keepers of the written and, now, digitized word.
In print formats there are several recognized methods to sustain the record but electronic records depend on technology to be read. With each iteration of a technology, digital records need to be refreshed and upgraded to fit into new software requirements. Information storage and retrieval systems become obsolete very quickly. How best to archive or preserve the digital record remains an unresolved question. An electronic archive should ideally allow patrons to cheaply and easily search, display, and print in high resolution full text and graphics.