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The article provides information on the Fiesole Retreat conference held in Cape Town, South Africa. It mentions that the conference was focused on addressing the challenges and opportunities in global scholarly communication, particularly emphasizing the integration of African perspectives and contributions into the broader academic discourse on open access publishing and cultural heritage preservation.

Reviews past trends regarding electronic resources and publishing on the Internet, analyzes critical issues involving electronic resources, and makes predictions for the years 2000 through 2005. Examines important developments on a year-to-year basis from 1991 through 1998-99. Identifies archiving, usage, utility, and copyright as key issues, while also covering licensing. (Contains 30 references.) (Author/AEF)

Most authors and publishers of electronic information believe that current copyright law does not address technical capabilities or reader uses and have turned to contracts or licenses to define the rights of owners and users. Discusses copyrights, fair use, and licenses and highlights licensing's unresolved issues: use and users; archiving; scalability; price; liability; and licensing layers. (PEN)

Describes problems facing academic libraries today concerning the amount of literature and information available, costs, copyright issues affecting ownership, and technological changes. Strategies for dealing with diminishing funds and increasing information resources are suggested, and activities at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) supporting a national information conscience are described. (LRW)

Discusses the effects of copyright law and the ownership of intellectual ideas on scholarly publishing. The effectiveness of copyright law for scholarly and academic publishing is considered, university-based networks for scholarly publishing are described, and problems with and possibilities for electronic journals are examined. (31 references) (LRW)

Discusses results of the BYTES (Books You Teach Every Semester) project, a consortial study that investigated whether the same books were used for reserve readings at academic libraries and whether they should be made available in an electronic format. Recommends collaboration between libraries and publishers to supply material in electronic format when needed. (LRW)

The article presents the discussion on books of the 20th and 21st centuries can be surprisingly and painfully difficult to find, access, and read showing excellent local public library.

The growth of electronic information has increased demands for changes in copyright laws which could directly affect libraries. Libraries can cope with such changes by developing policies on the use of electronic information by their patrons. Licensed materials is another concern wherein libraries must structure licenses to ensure that users have access to the materials needed while maintaining the fair use of licensed information.

The formation of a national information conscience and consensus among librarians, scholars and information providers organized in an information network is presented as the long term solution to the existing 'information crisis.' The fundamental problems confronting libraries involve size of the literature, cost of the literature, ownership of the literature and pervasive technological changes. The active collaboration among the producers and disseminators of information in the network is vital to an effective and efficient information system and the preservation of 'the body of knowledge.'

Includes "e-Skeletons: The Digital Library as a Platform for Studying Anatomical Form and Function"; Canonicalization: Fundamental Tool to Facilitate Preservation and Management of Digital Information"; "The ISI Web of Science - Links and Electronic Journals: How Links Work Today in the "Web of Science," and the Challenges Posed by Electronic Journals"; "MPEG-7: Behind the Scenes"; "Long-term Preservation of Electronic Publications: The NEDLIB Project"; "The LIBLICENSE Project and How it Grows". (LRW)

Outlines procedures and policies carried out by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in the microform conversion program initiated due to imminent space problems. Discussion covers background, space situation at SFU (seating, shelving), financial support for program, involvement of University Microfilms International and a book dealer, and conclusions. Twenty-two sources are given. (EJS)