AbstractRecent technological developments are changing the context, and may change the content and form, of personal information systems. Major developments causing such changes are (1) a substantial increase in the commercially available support services, (2) a proliferation of microcomputer systems claiming to support personal systems, (3) the capability to download citations from secondary services into private files, and (4) a developing awareness of, or desire to, incorporate the computer‐based personal system into a broader, integrated information environment which would include other functions such as electronic mail, automated office functions, etc. These developments raise economic questions for the user, will affect efforts to standardize system interfaces, and may bring basic changes in the ways an individual develops and uses his personal information syste