Every year, leading librarians, scholars, and administrators from the United States are invited to give papers on important library-related topics at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology's Roundtable. From 1995 to 1999, some aspect of digital library development was the theme of the symposium, and the essays in this collection are all devoted to that topic.

In these essays, some of the most innovative thinkers and practitioners discuss how digital libraries have been conceived and implemented in the United States. Insight into the policy, legal, and technical frameworks of digital libraries is given, while honest views of problems encountered in trying to integrate digital and traditional libraries are given. Finally, some of the essays explore how users are affected by digital library services.