Realising the potential of web services

Purpose To highlight the potential of web services for libraries. Design/methodology/approach A brief description of web services is followed by a discussion of the importance of web service standards and the role of initiatives to encourage the development and use of such standards in libraries. Findings Web services offer many advantages to the library community, but the majority of these advantages will only be realised if web services are standardised. Originality/value This paper is a call to the library community to prevent the proliferation of proprietary web services by supporting the development and use of standard web services.