Chudnov examines the past, present, and future for libraries as collection boundary-less community content providers. How does the case for libraries as backbone p2p file-sharing infrastructure stack up? In some niches, quite well. Chudnove explores the symbiotic opportunities that may exist for us now and are sure to appear in the future.

Libraries have been file-sharing for ages; not simply pooling resources for a single geographic community but finding an item for any local user from any of thousands of peer libraries within cooperative national or international regions. This session takes a look at the history of inter-library loan, its origins and milestone achievements, legal, technological, economic, social, or otherwise.

Consider whether instantaneous file sharing systems surpass the possible scale and utility of libraries and the areas of service which are wholly incomparable. Chudnov examines specific niches of content and services which are likely to always best be served by libraries, and why libraries might have a leg up on some for-profit p2p file-sharing infrastructure providers even if there seems to be no rational technical argument for this to be so.