Let me describe in some more detail then what our new programme, which is underway since last year, is about. Library networks and interconnected library services is still the centre-piece but in a more ambitious and integrated fashion, since the key objective is to help create a modern libraries infrastructure as an integral part of the larger information and communications infrastructure. This tripartite structure assumes that more and more information will be available electronically, whether it is generated by publishers, by other information providers or by the libraries themselves. It assumes that integrated services will have to be provided both locally and in a distributed environment. Moreover, it assumes that libraries cannot keep aloof from all the other networked information activities which are emerging in parallel to the traditional publishing chain and are having an impact on scholarly communication.
New alliances mean new dialogues, new synergies and new ways of working together.
These technical problems are very diverse and range for instance from authentication and preservation of electronic documents to authorisation, cost recovery and economic models, from standard formats to open architectures. The programme should provide the opportunities to experiment in service environments and thus prepare for future usage. Programme are more suitable contexts. Publishing is an international business and networks have made information ubiquitous. Even in serving their local users, libraries have to network to provide access to that ubiquitous information.