Scholarship conducted in an increasingly online environment requires the services of a trusted third party in order to ensure that scholarly communication remains reliably accessible and applicable over the longer term. The library, by virtue of its most fundamental values and attributes, is probably better suited at this time than other information intermediaries to assume such a role. In order to understand the nature and responsibility of the trusted third party, or fair witness, it is essential to consider the key concept of transversality (especially as it is defined by the German philosopher Wolfgang Welsch) as it relates to information services. Assuming the role of trusted third party will also require that the academic library be prepared to undertake some fundamental changes in currently prevalent directions and values that will affect its relationship to other information intermediaries and, potentially, also to its parent institution.