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Online catalogs, electronic indexes, full-text databases, the Internet … will library collections be electronic, print, or both? Library users are increasingly dependent on electronic resources, but are they less dependent on paper? When a library provides access to electronic resources, does it also have a responsibility to provide a paper copy, or printout, of this information? In 1979 F.W. Lancaster proposed a "paperless information system" and observed:Even if a user has a terminal capable of interrogating a wide range of databases, he may not have a high-speed printer available to him. The library may be the obvious source to which he turns to get a printout of items he needs to have in quantity in hard copy form. (Lancaster, 1979) Librarians will agree with this observation, especially with the emphasis on the "quantity." Librarians are concerned with the costs for paper, ribbons, and cartridges associated with printing. As the demand for printouts increase, librarians must question who should bear the responsibility for the costs and to study methods by which at least some of these costs might be recovered.

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