Change is again rousing the once sleepy world of encyclopedias, making them more accessible than ever. The leader here is the unlikeliest of trailblazers, the formerly staid and even fusty Encyclop dia Britannica. To succeed, the company needs frequent visitors. Microsoft Corp., the company that has succeeded by trying to eat everyone else's lunch, has taken baby steps here. The other major encyclopedias are even slower out of the gate.
None offers free abridged versions.
Fortunately, you have other free offerings to choose from. Electric Library is a service of Infonautics Inc., of Wayne. It offers almanacs on general topics, entertainment, sports and children's interests, as well as an encyclopedia and a dictionary, all free of charge. Big companies may be staking claim to the Web, but there's still room for home-grown efforts. You still wouldn't want to quote encyclopedias in a doctoral dissertation, but for quickly finding reliable information to help you with your work, home or school life, they're hard to beat.