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The distinction is made between regulation of the Internet in general and of e‐mail. Five topics are presented: identity and trust, employment, contents administration, records management and security issues. In all of them the important step is to define the issues, and the actual regulation then develops from that of non‐digital equivalents. The key finding is the need for education for all levels of user to clarify the issues. Simply not taking enough care seems to be at the root of many actionable issues. The characteristics of the medium are not being allowed for. The paper concludes with what we can put into a course right now and what relevant research questions could be asked.

This study investigated those factors that contribute positively in shaping users’ perceptions of library effectiveness. A questionnaire‐based survey of five major agricultural libraries in Malaysia was conducted. It was found that the adequacy of collections, services and facilities were closely linked to the perceptions of library effectiveness. Certain other factors contributing positively to the perception of library effectiveness were the adequacy and effectiveness of library promotion, involvement of users in the selection of library materials, convenient library location, participation in user education programmes, availability of assistance for using library resources and facilities, and subject background of library professionals. The paper suggests that for any reliable library effectiveness study, all factors associated with user satisfaction should be investigated together.

Investigates resource sharing activities undertaken by agricultural libraries in Malaysia. It was found that resource sharing was basically limited to interlibrary lending and document delivery activities. On the average, each scientist from the participating research institutions made 1.25 document delivery and interlibrary loan requests per annum. Nearly 74 percent of these requests were met from local libraries. The participating libraries preferred to make their overseas document delivery requests to the BLDSC. Only a limited resource sharing activity was observed between the participating libraries and libraries in the ASEAN region. Heads of the participating libraries were in favour of a “loose” resource sharing scheme where it should be at their discretion to decide with whom to share their resources and at what level. The study offers several suggestions for improving resource sharing activities among agricultural libraries in Malaysia.

Information laws are looked at as they operate with analogue media, and then with digital services. The changes in law are related to use patterns and a solution proposed to improve access. This requires the development of a legal equity of access to information. Conditions in which this would apply are outlined. The areas of law considered are intellectual property rights, rights relating to personal information, and law protecting against breaches of confidence.

Intellectual property law regulates the exploitation of creative products. From patents one can obtain commercial intelligence and also technical information. Front‐page documentation when analysed for collections of patents yields commercial information on the technology, its markets, active inventors and institutions. The text of a patent is a technical document. It can be referred to for its specific details or combined with others to illustrate a trend. The overlap of patent and journal literature is greater than had been measured previously when only groups of patents are taken into account. Copyright concerns the availability of existing information. By trying to enforce existing law when the underlying concepts have lost their validity, the law has become unenforceable and requires considerable modification. The problem is an economic one of developing the market rather than a legal one of strengthening regulations. This approach is exemplified by the computer industry which relies on physical controls where possible.

A survey is presented of areas of Internet law of most interest to information professionals. Two sets of issues are presented; general concerns of information law as applied to the Web, and particular problems of law found only on a distributed network. Because of the global reach of the network, existing legal frameworks are only partially effective. Scope is identified for both authors and users to specify for themselves what levels of organisation and protection they require and to engage directly with other members of the community requiring information and access. It is suggested that information specialists of all types are well placed to lead the development of Web resources in the context of an information society.