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By Jean Cleveland
jclevela@uga.edu
Five years ago, the concept of an electronic library was virtually unknown. Today libraries everywhere are going “online,” and the state of Georgia is acknowledged as a leader with its system--GALILEO--being used a model for many universities around the country.
GALILEO--GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online, a project of the board of regents and the University System of Georgia--is a World Wide Web-based database server which offers access to more than 200 databases indexing thousands of periodicals and scholarly journals. More than 13,000 journal titles are provided in full text. Other resources include encyclopedias, business directories, government publications and electronic books.
Since its inception in 1995, GALILEO has expanded beyond University System institutions to include private colleges, public libraries, public schools and technical institutes.
In observance of GALILEO’s fifth anniversary, the UGA Libraries will host a party Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. on the lawn in front of the main library. The university community is invited.
The University of Georgia provided much of the leadership and programming in the initiation of GALILEO, with participation from Georgia State University and other system institutions. University Librarian William Gray Potter, a chief architect of GALILEO, says that systems in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and North and South Carolina were greatly influenced by and modeled on GALILEO.
“GALILEO is among the premier virtual libraries in the world,” Potter says. “With the support of Chancellor Portch and the General Assembly, we have created a statewide information system supporting educational, economic, technological and cultural development to serve all citizens of the state of Georgia.”
Last year, another goal of the initial proposal was realized when GIL (GALILEO Interconnected Libraries) debuted, providing a gateway to the catalogs of all University System
libraries.
“The addition of GIL will make online access even easier for patrons and staff,” says Merryll Penson, UGA associate university librarian for public service and another member of the original GALILEO committee. “GIL will integrate into one system a Web-based online union catalog of all the book collections of the University System (more than 6 million volumes), a circulation system with self-service options, fund accounting, cataloging, and check-in and control functions. Patrons will be able to initiate requests for books directly from other libraries at their computers from home, from dorm rooms or within the libraries.”
The next phase of GALILEO is the Digital Library of Georgia, which will feature electronic facsimiles of documents and books important to the history and culture of Georgia.
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