1.   For the librarian from a research library, different factors apply.

2.   Outside London, nowhere in the UK is as well served by research libraries as the University of Edinburgh.

3.   The department benefits from the excellent research libraries in Edinburgh, especially New College Library and the National Library of Scotland.

4.   This paper will consider the impact of the increasing availability of electronic information on major research libraries.

5.   The need to rethink our concept of the research library in this wider information environment will be discussed.

6.   An issue for research libraries over the next few years is to seize the opportunity offered by technology for enrichment of OPACs as electronic access tools.

7.   I want to turn now from the research library in its university information context to developments at national level relevant to the seminar discussion.

8.   Research libraries require a new breed of professionals with both subject and technical background to support new access routes to information.

9.   It is recommended that there should be a national strategy for the digitisation of materials in research libraries, closely related to user requirements and priorities.