Modern libraries are being transformed to digital libraries as a result of the growth in electronic publishing, which makes information available in a digital form.
Word processing started this field, and continues to be one of the major uses of computers. It is expanding into document management, as more of the roles of office work are automated. The underlying process of markup must be considered, however, so that documents can be created in dual use forms, that can be managed on paper as well as electronically, accessed from CD-ROMs or networks.
SGML facilitates archival storage of information, as is required for digital libraries. Documents from various word processing systems can be converted to SGML, saved, and then rendered into HTML, a typesetter language, or onto a display.