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Project HERMES, the proposed electronic document delivery service sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry, is described. HERMES is characterized by the participation of major publishers, industrial and public libraries and national government and by the use of Teletex for both document ordering and delivery. For the first phase of the project, provision of three facilities—electronic document ordering and delivery, automatic document delivery and electronic mail—to a pilot group of some sixty organizations is proposed. The major aim of the project is to promote and gain experience of the use of Teletex within the information and publishing community. [The Department of Trade and Industry announced in December 1984 that it does not intend to proceed with Project HERMES. The Journal of Documentation Editorial Board nevertheless feels that Susan Amy's paper should be published on the grounds that the proposals it details remain one possible approach to the implementation of a demonstration document delivery service based on teletex.]

In 1981 the National Physical Laboratory and Pira undertook for the Department of Industry a project definition study for a document delivery project to be known as Hermes. The prime aim of the project was to give a practical demonstration of how Teletex (n.b. not Teletext) technology may be applied to publishing activities. The aim of this paper is to describe in outline the system proposed by this study. Recently (November 1982), detailed planning of the first phase of the project has been initiated by the Department.

As part of Quartet, a research project funded by the British Library, University College London (UCL) has been investigating the use of digital telephone networks for document delivery. The system will facilitate the transmission of electronically encoded documents, such as scientific journal articles, usually in facsimile image format, from a central archive to a requesting client, and the intention is to investigate the technical and economic viability of basing such a system on ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network). Present experiments involve the use of Group IV Telefax across IDA, British Telecom's prototype ISDN network, and Megastream links between UCL and the British Library's Document Supply Centre at Boston Spa (near York). This paper is based on a talk given to the UK Online Users Group at Aslib, London, in November 1987.

On 2 January, 1984 the American Library Association will inaugurate Alanet, a new electronic mail and information service. Subscriptions will be available to all ALA organisation members.

Knowledge Industry, ASIS team up to produce database user service. Knowledge Industry Publications Inc., and the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) have joined forces to create a four‐faceted Database User Service. The new service will provide an annual print directory, an online directory, a monthly newsletter, and a database hotline.

Electronic mail has meant many different things to many different people in the last decade. Its capabilities have been oversold by salespeople anxious to prove that their flavour is the perfect solution for everyone while alternative solutions are little more than obsolete junk. As a result the concept has come to be misunderstood and mistrusted by those who most need convincing: you.

The application of new technology to Scandinavian libraries has not differed greatly from country to country, except for Iceland, where library automation was introduced later. The Nordic Council for Scientific Information and Research Libraries (NORDINFO) has actively encouraged interlibrary co‐operation at both national and international level. Chief amongst such initiatives has been the National Technological Library of Denmark's computerized location and on‐line ordering system ALIS. Many libraries now make their holdings available on‐line. Scandinavian libraries receive 50% of their international loans from BLDSC, and take advantage wherever possible of its technological facilities for automated request transmission. If system interface were improved, the existing DOCLINE link between Chalmers University Library, TIB and BLDSC could be extended in scope. New technology is increasing library co‐operation across Scandinavia.

This paper is an appraisal of the current word processing scene as it could apply to librarians and information workers. Some of the problems that are arising due to the introduction or proposed introduction of new technology are described and the concept of evolution rather than revolution is strongly proposed. A description of the systems available and the applications which could be of use to the profession are highlighted. The problems of acquiring equipment and, particularly, the choice some people are having to make between word processors and microcomputers is covered in some detail.

The Editor sums up the implications of Information Technology Year 1982