Orbital angular momentum in the nucleon

In the last decade, it has been realized that the orbital angular momentum of partons inside th nucleon plays a major role. It contributes significantly to nucleon properties and is at the origi of many asymmetries observed in spin physics. It is therefore of paramount importance t determine this quantity if we want to understand the nucleon internal structure and experimenta observables. This triggered numerous discussions and controversies about the proper definition o orbital angular momentum and its extraction from experimental data. We summarize the presen situation and discuss recent developments in this field.