Editorial

Peter te Boekhorst & Ulrike Scholle

The licensing policy in regard to electronic publications – first and foremost electronic journals – must be considered one of the most important topics in the field of library and information services at the end of this millenium. In articles from this year’s LIBER Annual General Conference the question is approached from different points of view. Alex Klugkist puts forward the libraries‘ point of view when presenting the final version of the LIBER Licensing Principles. A representative of a large publishing house, Paul Snijders, points out Elsevier’s view on licensing.

Practical experience with bringing about a conciliation of interests between publishers and libraries is described by Hans Geleijnse, Sigrid Tollefsen and Mimmi Gulliksen. Their articles contain valuable practical information about concluding licensing agreements and forming consortia in the Netherlands and Norway. Consequently, Hub Laeven’s account of the situation at Nijmegen University Library, ends with the statement: „One of the most important tasks that remains for libraries, if they are to operate even more successfully in the twenty-first century, is to promote cooperation to acquire scientific information at both a national and international level.”

Hans-Joachim Wätjen also gives us his detailed and at times provocative picture of what the library in the twenty-first century will look like. Knowing that change is our certainty he covers future trends in information technology and their consequences for the hybrid library as provider of printed as well as electronic material.

We are, however, also looking back on the last year. Mike Smethurst reviews the activities of the National Libraries in Europe and asks his readers to share with him „the pleasure of learning of the many exciting developments that are now taking place in European Natioal Libraries.“

LIBER Quarterly, Volume 9 (1999), 387, No. 4