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The first journals appeared in 1665: Le Journal des Scavans in Paris and Philosophical Transactions in London. They were the first publications with quality control, introducing concepts like approbation and imprimatur. Today we can see approximately 70 000 regular primary publications. Catalogues from subscription agencies like Swets, EBSCO and Blackwell list over 300 000 serial titles. Little has been done to improve accessibility and retrievability; book catalogues, whether printed on paper or electronically as OPACs (Online Public Access Catalogues), are still based on rather simple cataloguing rules. Journal literature is abstracted and indexed by so‐called secondary or A&I services: one of the most practical tools to access new articles in primary journals is Current Contents. There is no longer a library that can acquire all relevant publications, not even the Library of Congress (USA), the British Library (UK) or the National Diet Library (Japan). The number of publications seems to double every 15 years, and it would be interesting to correlate the number of active members of learned societies and the number of publications offered and accepted over the years. The only effective answer to this increasing problem seems to be the introduction of electronic publishing and communication over networks.

Support sought for changes to copyright law EIIA members have been asked to support a change in the copyright laws to permit some ‘fair use’ copying of software. A proposal is likely to go to the European Commission this month. Meanwhile, Memoranda of Mutal Understanding have been signed with the United States' HA and Japan's JICOA, to co‐operate in activities such as supporting the free flow of information.

Saztec Europe forms new division. Saztec Europe has formed a new division which will specifically concentrate on marketing its services to European libraries. Chris Dowd and Glenda Rousseau, who have 30 years of bibliographic services experience between them, head a team of 10 specialists in London and Scotland. Detailed knowledge and experience in multilingual database creation are claimed. Talks are currently taking place with European national libraries on the prospects for further work of this kind. Conrad Lealand, Managing Director of Saztec Europe, said he believed a number of major catalogue conversions would take place during the next four years.

HA responds to White House report. The Information Industry Association (HA) Board of Directors issued a statement of support for the Final Report on the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services. Both agree that a change in US policy is needed and needed fast.

Network computers everywhere. Once there was a time when this journal had never mentioned the words ‘World Wide Web’ or ‘Internet’. There is a first time for everything.

Librarians are finding it increasingly difficult to acquire and to make available to their users the full range of information in print form that they require. Electronic information products and services are appearing at a rapidly increasing rate. Users find them attractive and, when available, use them more heavily than print sources. Consequently, librarians in response to the demands of users, and overwhelmed by the problems posed by print publications, are attempting to make electronic sources available. This paper describes the nature of the problems posed by print publications and trends involving the use of electronic documents in libraries. It discusses the progress made toward introducing electronic documents as alternatives, and complements, to print collections. It also describes a study that the IFLA Information Technology Section is undertaking to assess how rapidly libraries are adopting alternatives to locally held, print sources.