Abstract
Since 1995, JSTOR has been converting the backfiles of important scholarly journals, in a multitude of academic disciplines, from their paper origins to a digital archive. As a not-for-profit organization, JSTOR's mission is to create a shared and trusted archive of important journal literature, regardless of whether that literature is pulp-based or “born digital”. As we now begin to take on the varied challenges involved in receiving, enabling for display, and archiving content published electronically, we will draw from the extensive experience base we have developed from our seven years of work in creating and maintaining a substantial electronic database. While not all of JSTOR's experience in the retrospective conversion of paper journals is directly applicable to the digital world, we do believe it is reasonable to say that what we have learned to this point can be a useful guide in (1) asking the right questions and (2) challenging certain assumptions.