This first section describes some underlying issues behind the group's recommendations in later sections. Organizations and publishing. The boundaries between authors, publishers, libraries, and readers evolved partly in response to technology, particularly the difficulty and expense of creating and storing paper documents. New technologies can shift the balance and blur the boundaries. Publishers and libraries perform many functions that go far beyond the creation and management of physical items.
Examples range from editing and refereeing, to abstracting and indexing.
We believe, therefore, that the roles of libraries and publishers will continue even as their specific practices change with the technology. The new forms of publishing and library organizations that will emerge are open to speculation, but we believe they will be shaped by natural market forces and are not a topic for research. The social, economic, and legal frameworks. The research agenda in digital libraries should not be restricted to technical areas. The social, economic, and legal questions are too important ignore.