Abstract
This article is from a regular department in _CAUSE/EFFECT_ that reports on the activities of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), formed by the Association of Research Libraries, CAUSE, and Educom. The article was adapted from Richard P. West's keynote address at the CAUSE/CNI Regional Conference on "Networked Information Access and Delivery," at Fullerton, California, on October 4, 1994. It discusses the history of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the issues and challenges facing higher education as the NII evolves.