THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A periodic report from

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

JULY/AUGUST 1996 • NO. 10

An already popular

site on the Internet,

one that has been

cited by Point Communications and others as being

one of the best, is likely to be getting a lot more traffic as a result

of a redesigned homepage.

Under the ultimate direction

of Dr. Billington and Associate

Librarian Suzanne Thorin (who

has since left the Library), a new

homepage for the Library’s

World Wide Web site (http://

www.loc. gov/) debuted July 6.

It features more graphics and direct links to sites such as the

American Memory historical

collections, the THOMAS congressional database, the

on-line catalog, copyright information and publications

(such as the Information Bulletin and Civilization magazine).

The redesign was a collaborative effort overseen by

this writer and the National Digital Library (NDL)

Program’s Virginia Sorkin, co-chairs of the Library’s

Internet Operations Team. While the Operations Team

leaders oversaw the work, it was a group of designers

who actually brought ideas to fruition. Robert Kinneary,

Dominique Pickett, Glenn Ricci and David Yang, under

the guidance of Jeff Bridgers, worked closely together,

with advice from Elizabeth Miller of Library Services,

Jill Brett, Public Affairs officer, and Beth Davis Brown of

the NDL Program. Ben Shneiderman, head of the

Getting a New Home:

LC’s Internet Presence Has Redesigned Homepage

Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland at College Park, served as a consultant.

“The project was truly collaborative, with all concerned providing input into the final design,” said Ms.

Sorkin. “We were also able to accomplish our goal of an

early July debut in a very short time.”

The redesign of the homepage began with a March 22

meeting of the Library’s Executive Committee, which

decided to expand current policy-making and operations

for the Library’s Internet site. The committee came to the

conclusion that “the Library’s Internet presence is now

the major publication of the Library of Congress” and

that new Operations and Policy teams would be formed

to direct Internet activities.

continued on page 2; see Homepage

The Library’s

redesigned

homepage is

lively with color

and graphics, and

should entice

even more users

inside.
Homepage, from page 1

Four days later, the Policy Team met with

Dr. Billington and the Executive Committee. Dr.

Shneiderman began by presenting samplings

of Web site designs, offering a critique of each.

Dr. Billington stressed that the new homepage

must have “maximum appeal to the American

people,” be informative and eliminate all lingo

in its verbiage. The “flagship” programs presented on the page were to be the American

Memory historical collections, the on-line catalog, THOMAS and the electronic copyright

deposit system (CORDS), now being tested.

The designers worked to develop three

graphic designs. On June 6 these prototypes

were made available on a Web test site so that

all staff working on the project could comment

on the merits of each. Dr. Shneiderman made a

presentation to Dr. Billington, who preferred

the design with the boldest graphics. Again, the

homepage was mounted on the test site for

comments, and the Policy Team met on June

21 for a final critique. By June 27 all comments

had been taken into consideration and a new

prototype was developed.

Then a test phase began in which teachers,

students and members of the general public

were invited to use the site. Their comments

were recorded and taken under advisement. As

of press time, the final touches were being

made.

What’s next? The teams will begin work on

redesigning the “subpages,” to provide a common look to the Library’s Web presence that

still allows for variations.

 —Guy Lamolinara

Public Affairs Office

LIBRARY’S HOMEPAGES

ARE WINNERS

Various Library of Congresshomepages have been cited for

excellence by several Internet rating

services.

Point Communications has

named the main homepage, the

American Memory historical collections, THOMAS, the “African

American Mosaic” exhibit and the

sites for the American Folklife Center

and Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room in its “Top

5% of All Web Sites” listing.

Magellan, another Internet rating

service, has given four stars to the

homepage, the on-line exhibits, LC

MARVEL and the American Memory

historical collections. Magellan gave

three stars to THOMAS.

These initiatives can all be accessed

from the main homepage at

Now that the new homepage is in the

“public domain,” the Library is interested

in what the broader public thinks. After

using the page, feel free to click on the comment area and tell us.

✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

There was to

be no lingo

allowed

on the

Library’s

new

homepage.

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

2 JULY/AUGUST 1996

http://www.loc.gov/
On Jan. 5, 1995, the Library’s legislative

system known as THOMAS made its

debut on Internet, and with it came an

on-line look at the workings of the U.S. Congress.

Named for Thomas Jefferson, the Library’s

spiritual founder, THOMAS has experienced a

steady growth in usage, with approximately 1.7

million transactions currently being logged

monthly. Encouraged by this strong interest on

the part of Congress and the public to view the

full text of bills introduced by the 103rd and

104th Congresses and the Congressional

Record, the Library’s Information Technology

Services office (ITS) has continued to enhance

THOMAS by adding new files and features.

The Uniform Resource Locator for THOMAS

is http://thomas.loc.gov/. It can also be accessed from the Library’s main homepage.

In September 1995 the Bill Summary and

Status file (or Bill Digest) was incorporated into

THOMAS to facilitate searches of legislation

introduced in the 104th Congress. Initially introduced more than 20 years ago into the

Library’s information retrieval system (SCORPIO), the Bill Digest, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, enables users to search

for legislative information by keyword, index

term, bill, amendment or public law number,

sponsor/co-sponsor, official title, committee/

subcommittee or by a combination of up to

three of these search terms. The THOMAS version of the Bill Digest goes a step further by

providing links to the full text of a bill and to

pertinent portions of the Congressional Record.

Similarly, the Congressional Record Index

was added to the THOMAS system last fall to

facilitate searches through the Congressional

Record. Like the Bill Digest file, it also provides

links to the full text of the document. Users may

click on specific pages to be connected to the

corresponding pages within the Congressional

Record.

“Major Legislation” was also added to

THOMAS. As its name implies, this file tracks

major bills receiving floor action in the 104th

Congress, and is prepared by legislative

analysts in the Congressional Research Service.

These bills may be searched by topic, popular

or short title, or bill number/type. Major

legislation that has been enacted into law or that

is under consideration during the current and

previous weeks is listed accordingly. The Major

Legislation file also contains links to the Bill

Digest file, which gives users an overview and

status of the legislation before they view it in

its entirety. They may then retrieve the full text

of these documents and also retrieve the

portions of the Congressional Record where it

is referenced.

Additional enhancements are in production.

Planned for a summer release are changes in

graphic design that will not only improve the

system’s appearance but facilitate navigation

both within the THOMAS system and through

connections to other Internet resources. The

impending addition of House and Senate Committee reports, and links to House and Senate

Committee homepages will not only increase

the legislative content of THOMAS but reveal

the process that takes place from the introduction of a bill until it receives floor action.

Users will also soon be able to access historical documents such as the text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the

Federalist Papers and broadsides and papers

pertaining to the Continental Congress and

A New Look

for THOMAS

Legislative System

Gets a Face-Lift

continued on page 5, see THOMAS

“Continued

enhancements

to the

THOMAS

system reflect

the Library’s

commitment

to following

Congress’s

lead in

opening up the

legislative

process to the

American

people.”

—Herbert Becker

Director of

Information

Technology Services

THE LIBRARY OF

/AUGUST 1996 3
More collection photographs

on the next page

The National Digital Library Program has recently made available three new online collections of American historical materials.The new offerings bring to 16 thenumber of collections available from the Library at http://www.loc.gov/. These

multimedia collections, which include photographs, pamphlets, daguerreotypes, manuscripts, sound recordings and films, represent one of the most important sources of

high-quality intellectual content freely available on the Internet.

“Young learners as well as learners of all ages will now be able to benefit from these

unique collections that illuminate the American experience,” said James H. Billington,

the Librarian of Congress. “The 16 collections on-line from the Library of Congress illustrate the best of American creativity.”

The new collections will be especially useful to K–12 students and teachers, who will

also be able to access them through the Library’s Learning Page, which offers

education-related help in searching collections by the Events, People, Time and Places of

American history at (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/). “Because our surveys

showed us that the K–12 community is the most frequent user of our electronic offerings, we are eager to integrate the new collections with the Learning Page, which focuses on education,” said Martha Dexter of the National Digital Library Program’s educational services area.

 —Guy Lamolinara

 Public Affairs Office

The Evolution of the

Conservation Movement

1850–1920

This collection of 60 books,548 congressional and

presidential documents, 170

prints and photographs,

manuscripts and one motion

picture documents the

formation and cultural

foundations of the movement

to conserve and protect

America’s natural heritage.

Three New Collections Debut

Carleton E.

Watkins’s photograph of mountain

and stream in

Yosemite National

Park, California.

Watkins was one of

the first to

photograph

Yosemite

commercially.

Librarian of

Congress James

Billington calls

the Library’s

on-line collections “the best

of American

creativity.”

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

4 JULY/AUGUST 1996
THOMAS, continued from page 3

Gottscho-Schleisner

Photographs

1932–1960

The 29,300 photographs inthis collection offer many

images from the work of architectural photographers Samuel

Gottscho and William Schleisner.

Their pictures document building

styles and trends throughout

America. Unique images also

include scenes from the 1939

New York World’s Fair.

Theodor Horydczak

Photographs

1920–1950

These 14,350 photographs primarily featureimages of Washington as a developing

urban center, chronicling the city’s social and

cultural life through its events, organizations,

embassies, museums and libraries.

1789 Constitutional Conventions. The ability to

perform keyword searches on these documents

will greatly ease research on the founding of

the nation and its governance.

“Continual enhancements to the THOMAS

system reflect the Library’s commitment to following Congress’s lead in opening up the legislative process to the American people,” said

Herbert Becker, director of Information Technology Services. “Our efforts have been rewarded, both by increased usage of the system,

and public recognition, such as a recent commendation from the Coalition on Government

Information,” a group initiated by the American Library Association. As part of its Freedom

of Information Day celebration, the coalition

praised the THOMAS system for “ensuring the

public’s right to know.”

GottschoSchleisner’s

Ellis Island

ferry house

Horydczak’s

Jefferson Memorial,

probably used for

postcards or

guidebooks

JULY/AUGUST 1996 5

—Audrey Fischer

Audrey Fischer is a writer-editor

in Information Technology Systems

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
During the past four years, usage of the

Library’s computer systems has nearly

tripled.

The Library recorded 25.8 million transactions in April 1996 for all computer systems,

compared to 8 million transactions in April 1992.

The 1992 figure includes only LC’s mainframe

computer, which supports the Library’s heavily

used LOCIS system, which offers the on-line

public access catalog, among other information.

The new non-mainframe systems such as the

RS6000 UNIX servers now support such systems as MARVEL and the World Wide Web offerings, which include THOMAS and the

American Memory historical collections.

“This is not surprising if one stops to consider that until 1992, outside usage of the

Library’s database systems was very limited,”

notes Herbert Becker, director of Information

Technology Services (ITS). “That is, these systems were mainly used internally to perform

library and administrative functions [including

copyright registration and recordation] or to

serve the reference needs of Congress and

on-site patrons.”

In 1992 the Library took the first step toward

increasing public access to its holdings by

mounting its first on-line exhibit, “Revelations

from the Russian Archives.” This exhibit was

made accessible via Internet’s anonymous FTP

(file transfer protocol) facility. A major shift occurred the following year when the Library first

provided access via the Internet to LOCIS (Library of Congress Information System), which

includes an on-line computer version of the

Library’s bibliographic data that had been developed during the 1970s.

time, more than 28 million records in more than

30 files were made available to 60 simultaneous

users. Today, LOCIS is accessible by 90 simultaneous users.” Several months ago, the hours

of availability were extended beyond midnight

to 24 hours per day to accommodate the varying time zones of the Library’s global users.

This excludes Saturdays when the system is

brought down at 5 p.m. for maintenance. Of

the 18.5 million million monthly mainframe

transactions in April, more than 10 million

came from the LOCIS system. This figure is

up from more than 4 million a year ago. Public usage accounts for approximately 40 percent of the total.

During the next two years, the Library began to provide access to non-mainframe databases, which are supported by RS 6000 UNIX

servers. In July 1993 the Library introduced its

campus-wide information system, or gopher,

known as LC MARVEL (Machine Assisted

Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library).

MARVEL provides information about the Library of Congress, such as hours of operation,

list of public events, text of publications, and

a staff telephone directory as well as provides

links to LOCIS and other Internet sites. Usage

of the MARVEL system climbed steadily for

two years, peaking at over 2 million monthly

transactions in March 1995.

In June 1994 the Library established a server

on the World Wide Web, which currently offers resources such as historical collections,

on-line exhibitions and a legislative information system known as THOMAS, which made

its debut in January 1995. The number of

people accessing the Library’s web site is on

the rise. The Library processed about 4.3 million LC Web transactions in April, as compared

with approximately 1.5 million monthly transactions last year. As expected, usage of the

MARVEL system has begun to decline as usage of the Library’s Web site continues to increase since the Web offers some of the same

information as was previously available solely

from MARVEL. Usage of MARVEL accounted

Dramatic Increase in LC

Computer Systems Usage

Strength in numbers

continued on page 7, see Usage

LOCIS (Library

of Congress

Information

System) is now

open 24 hours a

day to accommodate all

global time

zones.

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

6 JULY/AUGUST 1996

Mr. Becker recalls, “On April 30, 1993, ITS

made it technically possible to access LOCIS, a

mainframe-based system, via Internet. At that
Usage, continued from page 6

for about 1 million transactions in April;

200,000 transactions came from FTP (file transfer protocol) and WAIS (wide-area information

systems).

The THOMAS system has also been wellreceived, with more than 1.7 million transactions logged in April (an increase of more than

500,000 transactions per month since its introduction). THOMAS offers information about

the workings of Congress, including resources

such as the full text of bills for the 103rd and

104th Congresses, the Bill Summary and Status file, the Congressional Record and the Congressional Record Index.

Clearly, the Library’s databases have been

enormously popular with outside users. Approximately 40 percent of access to the

Library’s mainframe system (LOCIS) and

non-mainframe systems (all other offerings) is

from outside users. That figure jumps to 93

percent for the non-mainframe systems alone.

The upward trend promises to continue as

the Library continues to share an ever- increasing portion of its vast and unique resources

with users around the world,” predicts Mr.

Becker. “Therefore, enhancing the Library’s

technical infrastructure to meet the growing

demand is a high priority. This includes increases in computing power and storage capability, as well as advances in system architecture and network management.”

way. In May 1995 ITS successfully completed a

major upgrade of the Library’s mainframe computer system. Two mainframe computers were

replaced by one larger and faster machine, resulting in significantly reduced response time

for simultaneous users of the Library’s databases both internally and via Internet.

The addition of two RS6000 computers to the

open systems server facility more than doubled

the on-line data storage capacity. Inter-server

connectivity and the speed of data transfer between the servers was enhanced dramatically

by the installation of an FDDI local area network, which connects the servers. To handle the

projected mass storage requirements of the

National Digital Library, an IBM ADSM (AdStar

Distributed Storage Management) system was

recently installed to handle daily backup and

recovery functions as well as disaster recovery

for data residing on the RS6000 servers.

Similarly, a recently installed Hierarchical

Storage Management (HSM) system automatically moves data to maximize existing storage

space. A 3494 MagStar robotic tape library was

also installed with a capacity of 495 tape cartridges, capable of storing 8.2 terabytes of data.

“During the past decade, the Library has remained forward-looking in investigating, preparing for and utilizing new technologies,” said

Mr. Becker. “Similarly, the groundwork is now

being laid to meet the Library’s mission as it

enters the 21st century.”

Mainframe and Non-Mainframe Systems Usage

(Figures based on April 1996 statistics)

1

 Includes the LOCIS system

2

 Includes LC World Wide Web (including THOMAS), MARVEL, WAIS and FTP

* As compared with an average 8 million monthly mainframe transactions in 1992

Mainframe1 Non-Mainframe2 Total

Internal usage 14.5 million .5 million 15 million

Outside usage 4 million 6.8 million 10.8 million

Total 18.5 million 7.3 million 25.8 million*

Some infrastructure improvements have already been completed while others are under

—Audrey Fischer

Information Technology Systems

The groundwork is being

laid to meet

the Library’s

mission as it

enters the 21st

century.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

JULY/AUGUST 1996 7
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A PERIODIC REPORT FROM

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

Reports will be published about 12 times a

year, using gift funds. Comments and

suggestions are welcome.

Editorial Direction

Laura Campbell, Director

National Digital Library Program

202/707-3300; LCAM@LOC.GOV

Editor-in-Chief

Guy Lamolinara

202/707-9217; GLAM@LOC.GOV

Managing Editor

Caroline Krewson

202/707-5220; CKRE@LOC.GOV

* World Wide Web Access

URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/ndl/per.html

FIRST CLASS MAIL

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

PERMIT No. G-103

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20540-5250

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300

Printed on recycled paper. ■ 60 percent reclaimed products. Produced by Nancy Brooks Publishing Services ■

Printed by Insty-Prints of Merrifield, VA

THIS REPORT IS ON THE WEB*

IN THIS

ISSUE

Guidelines for the Library of Congress/Ameritech

National Digital Library Competition were made

available at the American Library Association Annual

Convention in New York City July 6–9.

Made possible by a $2 million grant from

Ameritech to the Library’s National Digital Library

Program, the competition will allow all libraries, archives, historical societies and other repositories in the

United States (except federal libraries) that hold primary source materials in American history and culture to apply for awards to digitize their collections.

These collections will become part of the National

Digital Library.

The Library’s Web homepage at

http://www.loc.gov/

will offer access to the collections digitized by the

competition’s winners as well as continue to offer

collections of the Library of Congress.

For the first year of the competition, preference will

be given to collections from the period 1850-1920, as

this is already a focus of many of the Library’s electronic collections. Applicants are advised to view these

American Memory collections on-line to determine

ways in which their holdings complement or augment

what is currently available.

 Complete guidelines are available on the World

Wide Web at

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/award/

They are also available at

http://www.ameritech.com/

Application forms will be available from the same

Web sites no later than Aug. 19.

To request guidelines and applications (when

available) in printed form, contact

Barbara Paulson at the Library of Congress at

(202) 707-1517; fax (202) 707-6336

e-mail bpau@loc.gov

or

Crystal Ashton, Ameritech Library Services at

(801) 223-5330; fax (801) 223-5202

e-mail cra@amlibs.com.

Guidelines Available for LC/Ameritech

National Digital Library Competition

 —Guy Lamolinara

Public Affairs Office

THE LIBRARY’S

NEW HOMEPAGE

AND HOW

IT WAS DONE

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 1

ISSN 1083-3978

LIBRARY’S

HOMEPAGES ARE

FOUR-STAR

WINNERS

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 2

THOMAS

HOMEPAGE

SPIFFED UP, TOO

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 3

THREE NEW

AMERICAN

HISTORICAL

COLLECTIONS

ON-LINE

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 4

DRAMATIC

INCREASE IN

“OUTSIDE” USE OF

LIBRARY’S

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 6

8 JULY/AUGUST 1996

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM