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Summarizes the development of electronic publishing in the United States since the early 1960s. Definition of electronic publishing; Use of computers to generate print-on-paper publications; Electronic text distribution; Text accessibility; Early experiments on electronic journal production.

Since the early 1930s federal legislation has enabled the Library of Congress to offer free library service to blind and physically handicapped individuals resident in the United States as well as to U.S. citizens overseas. Technological changes in the program have mirrored and sometimes anticipated transformations and developments in the world of consumer electronics. Braille is now accessible over the Internet by means of specialized keyboards; audiobooks, originally cut onto rigid shellac 78-rpm disks, have progressed to flexible discs and a refined analog cassette technology that will in turn soon be replaced by digital flash-memory cartridges playable on efficient, reliable, lightweight, and portable machines. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped looks forward to the inauguration of its new digital system in 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines issues related to resource sharing among libraries in the United States, within the context of world knowledge needs, economic and publishing realities and the intersection of conflicting interest of stockholders in the scholarly communications system as it moves into an increasingly electronic age. How the emergence of electronic documents have challenged librarians and publishers; Types of technical solutions and impacts that might be expected in the future.