He impressed on the audience that as a new age begins, it is important to know what age it is that draws to a close. As we move to networked communications, it is not the age of writing that is ending, nor the age of the printed book. Blixrud spoke about evolving standards for a networking age. Her premise was that a strong but flexible infrastructure is fundamental to the process of building the library information delivery systems that will support scholarly communications in the future. Technical standards are an integral part of our current information infrastructure and must be a part of our future.
Standards can provide structure, links and direction.
Lowry asserted that in a world of electronic networks and of digital information seemingly liberated from the confines of the concrete physical object, the nature of our control over that information is changing. She examined the shift from symbiotic roles of publisher and libraries in the shared control of electronic information. Her discussion included observations about copyright and licensing, ownership, access and use. Reed discussed the survival of universities and their libraries in these times. He observed that universities have fallen under scrutiny due to research fraud, misappropriation of grant funds, and athletic scandals.