The Open Archives Forum provided a Europe-based focus for dissemination of information about European activity related to open archives and, in particular, to the Open Archives Initiative. The aim of the Forum was to facilitate clustering of IST projects, national initiatives and other parties interested in the open archives approach. In order to do so, the Forum brought interested parties together to build a community of interest, enable exchange of information and establish a web-based European information source for open archives. In addition, the Forum undertook comparative reviews of technical and organisational issues.