This is a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the New Review of Information Networking (c) 2006 copyright Taylor & Francis; New Review of Information Networking is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=1361-4576&volume=12&issue=1&spage=1

The paper sets out to re-assess the role for SUNCAT as national union serials catalogue, considering how it might move beyond its original remit as a simple route to discover and locate serials, to be a component in a system that also supports request and access to serial content. This is set within the context of the needs of scholarly communication and the particular role played by journals. The serials' community is faced with a paradigm shift, which challenges existing publishing practices. Union catalogues have traditionally played a role in resource sharing, often in association with schemes of inter-library loan. With online access to content and telematic opportunity, there are new possibilities that could also build on collaborative action. Opportunity is taken to review other union catalogues of serials, centralised and virtual, that are defined by theme or geographical location, both regional and national.