It really is a small world. Perhaps the most dramatic of the revolutionary impacts of the Internet is the degree to which it has made it possible to reach a global audience. That JSTOR has grown to include participants in more than 40 countries is simply amazing to me. Just five years ago, achieving such breadth would have required establishing offices and distribution facilities in nearly as many countries. Today, a hard-working group of committed people with a mission and a website can reach every corner of the globe.

There are several items in this newsletter that reflect, in different ways, this global perspective, but I would like to highlight one: our efforts to make JSTOR available to users in countries that do not have, and have never had, the resources to acquire journal literature. While we recognize that JSTOR is in many ways most valuable for these institutions, we do not think it appropriate to use resources provided by participating institutions to subsidize access for others. Though a noble goal, this goal may not be shared by all of our participants. Consequently, we have worked hard to pursue third-party foundation funding to help us to extend the reach and availability of JSTOR to institutions that are unable to participate for financial reasons. One of the articles in this newsletter describes our progress in this effort.

I would also like to call your attention to the special enclosure with this newsletter. It is a talk delivered by William G. Bowen, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and JSTOR's Chairman, at our Participants' Meeting at ALA Midwinter in Washington. It has an international angle to it as well, as it is an abridged version of a talk originally given at the University of Oxford. We are grateful to Mr. Bowen for delivering his fascinating thoughts on the impact of technology and commercialization on libraries and universities at our meeting.

Please do not hesitate to contact us our comments guide our continuing effort to improve the services we deliver.

Last updated on September 8, 2006