The Electronic Library Program: Developing networked electronic library collections

The Memex Research Institute (MemRI), an independent non‐profit research and development organization, has created an Electronic Library Program of shared research and development in order to make the vision of Vannevar Bush's “memex” more concrete. The program is working toward the creation of large, publicly available indexed electronic image collections of published documents in academic, special and public libraries. The initial objective of the Memex Research Institute has been the development of a strategic plan that defines a combination of publicly searchable access databases, image (and text) document collections stored on network “file servers,” local and remote network access, and an intellectual property management control system. This combination of technology and information content is defined in this plan as an E‐Library or E‐Library Collection.