ABSTRACT
The library community is urged to "evaluate the economic, social, and political consequences of information and data processing technology so that public and private efforts can use this technology for the benefit of all". The convergence of diminished funding for libraries with increasing reliance on computer-delivered information hastens the onset of the library without shelves. As libraries decline in relative importance to trade publishers, that is, publishers of books for the general reader, efforts to reach the library market necessarily become less vigorous. Historically, only the largest publishers have mounted all-out sales promotions to libraries, utilizing representatives who are assigned to contact the major library systems, region by region. Book publishers individually and collectively lack the resources to police all the photocopying of copyrighted materials that takes place on the nation's campuses and corporations. Thefts of copyrighted material placed on the Internet are occurring with increasing frequency, with publishers unable to mount an effective defense against these depredations.
