If we did not already have libraries, they would now have to be invented. They are the keys to American success in fully exploiting the much-discussed information superhighway of the future. But we also see a long life ahead for the book, and I am pleased to note that the Oregon Center for the Book, one of 29 state affiliates of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, works with the Library of Congress in promoting books, reading , literacy, and libraries.
Books are user-friendly and portable.
Most of America's exi sting historical record will remain on paper. At the same time, the Library, alone or in joint ventures with the private sector, will be digitizing some of its most useful existing paper and film materials for dissemination via the information highway, while duly protecting intellectual property rights. We have tested their appeal on CD-ROM in 44 schools and libraries in 28 states, with positive results. We will be networking with others to create a National Digital Library so that materials digitized by one library may be available to man y, as in the case of the Leonard Bernstein papers that we obtained last year. We expect that university libraries, like Willamette's own Mark O. Hatfield Library, will be in the lead during the next decades as digitization steadily makes more and more in formation available to more people in more places on-line.