Information Technology: Opportunities and Challenges.

This article begins with an introduction to recent developments in information technology, including investment activities related to the technology in Europe, Japan, and the United States. It then deals with the challenging issues of access to electronic information of the U.S. government, fee or free for electronic information in publicly supported libraries, U.S. federal regulations, intellectual property, and other concerns. It devotes a lengthy discussion to the argument of public goods versus commercial commodities in the treatment of government information. The article covers the issues of the Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-130 and the responses it has prompted. With regard to the fee issues, the article presents the viewpoints of both sides of the debate between charging and not charging for electronic information in publicly supported libraries. It also reveals the conflicts in the library profession pertaining to fees for information. Finally, the article discusses the issues of how electronic publishing should be treated, including authorship, copyright, personal privacy, transborder data flows, and information liability. (67 references) (Author/DB)