The “new documentary triangle” (where libraries occupy a central position because they have organic links with all the three sides) is a guarantee of a democratic access to information thanks to the universal availability of materials in open archives, of a qualitative selection of the most relevant contributions thanks to the publishing control made by the scientific committees of e-journals and of a universal bibliographic control thanks to the repertoire of bibliographies. This paper is to be published in: Le biblioteche e la trasmissione della conoscenza in un sistema articolato di competenze, atti della IV Conferenza nazionale delle biblioteche, Firenze, Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali - Regione Toscana - Coordinamento degli assessori alla cultura delle Regioni italiane e delle Province autonome di Trento e Bolzano, 5-7 Novembre 2003.