Academic libraries world-wide are facing the challenges posed by the need to provide as much information for their communities as possible, in an era marked by the tension between continued technological advance and restrictive 20^th Century business models.

The challenges include:

• the need for researchers to maximise the dissemination and impact of their research;
• the need for readers to have access to the full corpus of relevant research literature;
• the possibility of creating a continuum of integrated scholarly information, from raw data to peer-reviewed publications;
  
• the development of open access models;
• the emerging technical standards to facilitate open archiving;
• the need for organisational structures to ensure access to digital archives;
• the complexities of intellectual property rights and copyright issues;
• restrictive license conditions;
• the disproportionate levels of library budgets spent on journal subscriptions, particularly in the science, technical, and medical (STM) areas;
• the concentration of a significant part of scholarly output in the hands of a small but highly influential number of commercial publishers;
• a widespread reluctance to cancel print until electronic archiving arrangements are secure.

At SPARC Europe, we believe that the library community can best meet these challenges – and continue to best serve the interests of researchers, students, teachers, and the wider public – by working together.

SPARC Europe provides the framework and a single voice for research libraries across Europe to unite and take action to bring about positive change.