Information technology ain't necessarily so...

Abstract

Electronic publication has resulted in a new situation on the information market. The exponential growth of journal literature, the steep rise of publication prices
and the appearance of electronic databases and networks have their special effects on primary document supply. Libraries tend to prefer the aquisition of individual articles on demand rather than to subscribe for complete journal titles based only on an estimation of their expected usage by readers. Consortia of libraries and publishers, library associations, journal subscrip-tion agencies offer electronically stored articles, even prior to the appearance of the journal issue with that article. These enterprises are discussed in detail. The competition of electronic editions with their printed equivalents will become stronger soon. All these trends are further supported by the networks worldwide, the Internet.