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At the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb the development of computerised services concerning the libraries has lasted for six years. The institution consists of one central and eleven departmental libraries. It employs the staff of about 300 and enrols 3000 students. The libraries should primarily serve the insiders but also have to be open to the outside public. The software was developed closely to the student administration system. The classical alphanumeric interface has been gradually expanded with OPAC (On Line Public Access) features. The first purely digital materials were the abstracts. In the near future doctoral and master's theses will have to be submitted also in a digital form. Further enhancements derive from receiving of digital journals. A special topic are the lecture notes and examination materials and their (un)availability which calls for some legal issues to be solved.

The new role of libraries in the Information Society needs to be defined. This role will be affected by some major changes like: new library content is being “born” digitally and is freely and intensively copied, transported and altered electronically ; yesterday’s readers are increasingly becoming writers ; privately owned huge collections of library-like material are being established by individuals without any library or information science knowledge. It is expected that new role of libraries is going to shift from keeping and taking care for materials towards education, assistance and support of users ; collecting and organizing “local” production as well as intensive global cooperation with other libraries.