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This article reviews the various e‐book reading experiences, including dedicated reading devices; PDA‐ and PC‐based readers, Web readers, and the related issues of print on demand. Questions of format, emerging standards, and rights management solutions are described in general terms, with an eye toward important areas of divergence. The size and potential of the e‐book market is considered, in light of traditional publisher initiatives, independent e‐publishing and digital distribution. Also, important new mediators deserve attention as they struggle to niche themselves in this emerging industry.

In this paper, ten standard business principles are considered in relation to library cataloging. These principles are intended to suggest methods that may decrease the time necessary for processing new library materials without adversely affecting access to the materials. This purely rational paradigm offers ideas about how to modify the cataloging philosophy and workflow, to reduce costs and improve patron service. By applying these basic principles, cataloging departments can accomplish traditional tasks more efficiently. Furthermore, the adoption of this approach will help to ensure the department's perceived value and relevance by freeing catalogers to focus more fully on the description and access of electronic resources.

The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to all factors that impact on the cost of an integrated library system (ILS).

Using a total cost of ownership approach, a bigger view of all the factors impacting on cost is explored.

The paper finds that many libraries focus entirely on direct costs when selecting a new ILS, rather than factoring in staff time and other long‐term costs that will be associated with choosing a system.

When the direct and indirect costs are considered, systems that have higher initial costs may be cheaper to own through their entire lifespan than other, seemingly cheaper, products.

This article discusses the impact of electronic resources on the suite of services provided by serials agents.

The article describes the changing needs of academic libraries in this new environment, and the ways in which serials agents can repurpose themselves to remain a corner‐stone of serials management. A white paper by R2 Consulting is referenced for its insights into the expectations and requirements of academic libraries. Brief statements by two Otto Harrassowitz executives are included.

If agents are to take on these new responsibilities for e‐journals, libraries must expect to pay something beyond typical service fees. Many cash‐strapped libraries will find it difficult to pay higher fees to agents than they do presently, even for services that could save hundreds of hours per year in staff time. Consortia‐purchased collections and the proclivities of a handful of large publishers aside, it will no doubt become necessary for libraries to entrust all subscriptions to agents as the majority of subscriptions maintained by libraries migrate from print to electronic.

Outlines a role for serials agents in the new digital information world.

Like many other academic libraries, Joyner Library at East Carolina University has experienced pressure in recent years to convert stacks space to other uses. The rise of electronic collections coupled with the changing perception of libraries from book warehouses to service points forces librarians to rethink their collection management strategies, concomitantly reducing print collections. The purpose of this article is to recommend specific strategies that will assist librarians engaged in a large‐scale deselection project.

First, librarians, staff, and graduate assistants developed a workflow to examine print journals for which the library has online archival holdings in order to de‐duplicate the collection. Librarians also determined which titles might be stored based on some online availability and length of print run. Third, librarians led a subject‐based review to determine which titles should be retained in the general circulating collections.

Examination proved that most online journals archives, including publisher packages, are adequate replacements for print serials volumes. Many other journal titles can safely be sent to storage rather than retained in the general circulating collections.

Libraries must manage their print collections differently in light of space issues and the conversion of scholarship from print to electronic format.

This article establishes clear principles to guide libraries' decisions on deselecting, storing, and retaining print serials volumes.

This article seeks to highlight patron‐driven acquisitions (PDA) of e‐books.

The article discusses an important new book devoted to PDA. It also describes a PDA pilot in the author's library consortium, and discusses some of the early findings.

The article suggests that PDA has numerous benefits, but challenges longstanding practices and beliefs about traditional collection building. It also assumes that e‐book access will become increasingly accepted by users.

The article provides theories about the effects of sustained PDA programs.

The author gives an overview of the annual meeting of the Society of Scholarly Publishing and outlines the highlights of some of the sessions, including the keynote addresses on how the law and technology can affect scholarly publishing in the digital age, and research on how engineers communicate. Notes that the session on researcher perspectives on publishing was a personal highlight of the meeting, which was held in San Francisco.