What is now needed is a comprehensive discipline-based technical information service that will serve to knit professional communities together and provide solid directories of resources available. Yet electronic publishing and dissemination are in their infancy. While CICNet reports that there were approximately 700 electronic journals in 1994, there can be no doubt that electronic publishing is still in the cradle. Beyond the technological research and implementation that needs to be accomplished, clearly the major stumbling block is economic. To date, the electronic universe has operated on the model of a cost-free public library.
Users can browse through stacks and take home what they choose for little or no money.
This model works well when the amount of information available is relatively small and the number of people taking advantage of the resource is also small. This same model, however, has limited the amount of information adapted to the Internet. Costs cannot be recovered if the information is free or dependent on the good-will of users to reimburse production costs. The problem is not primarily technical. It is, instead, a problem of determining sound business practices and the needs and expectations of users.