Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Creating an open market for information

1995; Elsevier BV; Volume: 21; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0099-1333(95)90091-8

1879-1999

Marvin A. Sirbu,

Library Collection Development and Digital Resources

Just a few years ago, the Internet was synonymous with “free good” or “shared commons”. The most recent indication of how much this has changed is Microsoft's bundling of its online services into Windows '95TM. It is generally recognized today that the Internet will be characterized by “mixed economy” which provides a variety of services—some free, some at a cost, some free to specific user communities, some by subscription, and some pay per use. It is also clear that the tools of commerce are being built to allow for commercial exploitation of the information superhighway. Services like “AOL” and “Compuserve” provide a panoply of resources in one stop and bill their customers directly. However, for the Internet to really demonstrate commercial variety will require a third party billing service so that “netsurfers” can pay for stops at small enterprises or large ones when they present desired resources. Libraries too will need such a billing capability, if only to secure intellectual property, or to bill for basic services they now offer, like copying. — C.B.L., Carnegie Mellon University.