Letter from the Director
Contributing to the National Digital Library

The National Digital Library is developing into more than a notion in the mind of a computer whiz somewhere out there on the Internet. The concept has received considerable publicity through efforts of the Library of Congress and the National Digital Library Federation (The Federation is comprised of the Library of Congress and several members of the Association of Research Libraries to which the Smithsonian Institution Libraries belongs, as well as others). Through the use of technology, access will be possible to the text of materials in libraries and archives with their illustrations, often augmented by sound, increasingly brought together through linkages possible in national computer networks, in particular, the World Wide Web (WWW). The Federation has dedicated itself to making library and archive material affordably accessible to students, scholars, and citizens everywhere. A boon to distance learning and continuing education is being realized and it is revolutionizing education at all levels. Those of us who at one time or another took a "correspondence course" will appreciate the fact that the classroom will be at our personal computers with full motion images, interactive participation, and readings to download at will. A member of our staff is enrolled in the graduate program for library science at Syracuse University which he tells me relies heavily on student access to online materials. Global instruction and discussion is a reality. The role for librarians is clear -- we will supply content for the Internet by digitizing our collections while coming to grips with the challenges of copyright and appro- priate use of licenses and contracts to assist in addressing intellectual property rights. Libraries and archives will become invaluable partners as course developers and other educators come to realize the potential. Many are predicting that degrees will be earned routinely without students stepping on a college campus and without loss of convenient access to the intellectual wealth of the campus.

Of particular importance for the library community is the promise digitizing has to assist in preserving the intellectual and cultural heritage that is contained in the millions of books published between the mid-nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries on acidic paper which are deteriorating on library shelves. Digitization offers hope although many problems remain to be solved including how the digitized records will be stored and refreshed as well as the legal and economic issues involved.

Amy Cancienne of the Louisiana State University School of Library and Information Science, assisted in creating "Reference Questions Packets" at the Museum Reference Center.

Frances Chung Kuo Cornell University sophomore majoring in communications, used her computer skills to work on several SIRIS conversion cleanup projects for the Systems Office.

Terry Curry Catholic University Library School student, worked on the interlibrary loan desk in Central Reference and Loan Services.

Kimberly Garber, a recent graduate from Emporia State University, served her internship at the Museum Reference Center where she organized new materials recently obtained from the National Museum of American History's American Indian Program.

Marci Madatic a Louisiana State University library school student, helped process the World's Fair collection for the National Museum of American History Branch.

Dei Olson, graduate student at American University, assisted with reference questions and updated a bibliography at the Museum Reference Center.

Debra Shumate from the Catholic University Library School created a bibliography from materials on colonial postal service at the National Postal Museum Branch.

Claire Will, a biology major at the University of California Santa Cruz, worked with vertebrate zoology library collections in the Museum of Natural History Branch.

Vicki Avera
Internship Coordinator