„New Alliances and New Services” was the theme of this year’s annual general conference of LIBER which was held at the British Library. Most of the articles included in this issue deal with the new electronic services, their evaluation and their effects on library organization and co-operation. Whereas libraries have been collecting data for their traditional services for a considerable timespan, they have just begun to devise new performance measures for the evaluation of their electronic services. In how far the organizational structure of libraries has been affected by the new electronic services on offer becomes evident from tendencies to merge libraries and IT services. Libraries and computing centres are not the only ones to form new alliances. Museums, archives and libraries need to co-operate in order to come to terms with the challenges of information technology.
In its own right LIBER Quarterly has tried to do the same. Apart from the printed version there is now an online version. Member libraries of LIBER should have a look at
and fill in the application form which allows them as registered users to have access to even the most recent issues of LIBER Quarterly. All others will only be allowed access on the basis of the principle of a „moving wall” of two years, i.e. access to only those articles that have appeared in print at least two years previously. We are convinced that this new service will improve both availability and accessibility of our journal.