What Do We Know about Low--Energy bar{K}N Interactions? Need and Possibilities of New Experiments at DAΦNE

We present results from a dispersion--relation investigation on a coupled--channel analysis of $\bar{K}N$--initiated processes in the low-- and intermediate--energy region. The analysis demonstrates both the effectiveness of these relations to constrain the parameters of the unmeasurable ${\pi}Y$ channels and the need for better data in the low--energy region, such as could be provided at a $\phi$--factory. (pres. by G.V. at the "International Workshop on the Spectoscopy of Hypernuclei", Sendai, Japan, January 8-10, 1998, to be publ. in Genshikaku Kenkyuu).