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The aim of this paper is to reposition the research library in the context of the changing information and knowledge architecture at the end of the “Gutenberg Parenthesis” and as part of the rapidly emerging “semantic” environment of the Linked Open Data paradigm. Understanding this process requires a good understanding of the evolution of the “document” notion in the passage from print based culture to the distributed hypertextual and RDF based information architecture of the WWW.

These objectives are reached using literature study and a descriptive historical approach as well as text mining techniques using Google nGrams as a data source.

The paper presents a proposal for effectively repositioning research libraries in the context of eScience and eScholarship as well as clear indications of the proposed repositioning already taking place. Furthermore, a new perspective of the “document” notion is provided.

The evolution described in the contribution creates opportunities for libraries to reposition themselves as aggregators and selectors of content and as contextualising agents as part of future Linked Data based scholarly research environments provided they are able and ready to operate the related cultural changes.

The paper will be useful for practitioners in search of strategic guidance for repositioning their librarian institutions in a context of ever increasing competition for scarce funding resources.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the proposition by the University of Illinois, Urbana‐Champaign (UIUC), that their return on investment (ROI) formula developed for academic libraries and based on hard facts is broad enough to be used throughout the world for ROI studies in academic institutions/libraries. It further aims to verify that UIUC's methodology is adaptable enough to work in other academic environments as well.

The methodology developed by UIUC (an ROI formula developed for academic libraries based on grant proposal applications and citations) has been “copied” and thereby adapted to enable it to be used in an academic environment in Europe/Germany.

The methodology developed by UIUC was adaptable enough to be used in a German academic environment for calculating the ROI of a University library. However, the methodology was sometimes complicated and therefore simplified for this and possible further studies. Likewise, the ROI formula was very complex and this study found that it was possible to simplify it as well for further use.

There was difficulty in gathering all the information necessary for conducting such a study in Germany as grant proposals contain sensitive data that people are unwilling to display. Further, it was noticeable that German statistics on funding were unable to provide the necessary data without further enquiries, despite the German law that public institutions are obliged to disclose funding information.

Previously no one else has tried to verify the methodology for an ROI study developed by UIUC. This study gives evidence that UIUC was right in claiming that their ROI formula developed for academic institutions/libraries may be used for any academic library in the world. Further, this study shows how the formula and the methodology may be adapted to fit individual academic environments.

The aim of this article is to introduce the special issue of Journal of Documentation focusing on perspectives on research libraries.

The paper outlines the theme of the issue and its underlying problems.

The traditional services of research libraries may diffuse to other kinds of institutions. There is, however, a need for information specialists studying and improving research infrastructures. Future services probably need to be more focused, domain-specific and based on research in information science.

The introduction is written to assist readers surveying the issue and to share the thoughts of the editors in planning the issue.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the construction of the prototype of Europeana.eu, the cross‐domain cultural heritage portal funded by the European Commission, to look at the political vision behind the project, and examine the user scenarios that informed the build, to detail Europeana's metadata schema and object model, and to give an overview of the new projects that will bring the prototype to full operational service.

As the project to build the prototype ends, this is a narrative of Europeana's genesis, development, launch, and an overview of the scope of future plans.

A cross‐domain, cross‐border cultural heritage site has been successfully created. A total of 4.5 million items across the range of image, video, text and sound formats have been integrated and user interest has proved higher than anticipated.

Key issues have been found to be metadata standards and quality. Usability/searchability of Europeana.eu is only as good as the metadata provided by content owners.

Greater standardisation of metadata across the cultural heritage domain will increase in importance so providers can deliver content to portals and aggregators. Metadata enhancement, both by content providers and by using automated processes, will likewise become a priority.

This is the on‐the‐record account of the building of Europe's digital library, archive and museum.

This paper's aim is to identify existing and developing new concepts of organization, management, and leadership at a large European university hospital; and to evaluate whether mixed qualitative‐quantitative methods with both internal and external input can provide helpful views of the possible future of large health care providers.

Using the Delphi method in semi‐structured, semi‐quantitative interviews, with managers and employees as experts, the authors performed a vertical and a horizontal internal analysis. In addition, input from innovative faculties in other countries was obtained through structured power questions. These two sources were used to create three final scenarios, which evaluated using traditional strategic planning methods.

There is found a collaboration scenario in which faculty and hospital are separated; a split scenario which divides the organization into three independent hospitals; and a corporation scenario in which corporate activities are bundled in three separate entities.

In complex mergers of knowledge‐driven organizations, the employees of the own organization (in addition to external consultants) might be tapped as a knowledge resource to successful future business models.

The paper uses a real world consulting case to present a new set of methods for strategic planning in large health care provider organizations.