1 Connecticut Digital Library What is it?

2 Connecticut Digital Library It’s free It’s on the Web It’s available 24 x 7 It’s accessible from home

3

4 Need News? Access the full text of any article from: The Hartford Courant – 1992 to the present The New York Times – last 12 months The Times (London) – 1997 to the present Sunday Times (London) – 1997 to the present Washington Post – 1996 to the present Christian Science Monitor – 1996 to the present

5 The Hartford Courant

6 Need a Book? Search over 300 library catalogs in CT simultaneously over the Web Request the item you want Track the status of your request Search any other library catalog In Connecticut In the world

7 reQuest Statewide Library Catalog

8 Need a Biography? Choose from over 100,000 biographies Linked to full-text articles, book review excerpts, images and much more From antiquity to the present

9 Wilson Biographies Plus

10 Need an article? Search 3,100 magazine titles simultaneously 1980 to the present Search hundreds of magazine titles appropriate for students at: Elementary schools Middle schools High schools Colleges

11 Articles for Elementary Schools

12 Articles for High Schools

13 Articles for Adults

14 Need Information in Spanish? Choose articles from 50 popular Spanish- language and bilingual magazines El Nuevo Herald (Miami, FL) Spanish- language newspaper Search interface in English and Spanish Presents titles in both Spanish and English

15 Informe

16 Need Business Information? Accurate, current information on more than 300,000 companies Company profiles, inc. parent/sibling relationships Industry rankings Products and brands Company performance ratings Industry statistics

17 Need Business Information? Investment reports Current investment ratings Pricing momentum and key ratio measures Financial ratios Coverage of major business events and trends from 1983 to present And much more …

18 Business and Company Resource Center

19 Need Health Information? Search nearly 400 health/medical journals 800 pamphlets 2,100 general interest publications Encyclopedias of medicine, childhood & adolescence Alternative health module PDR Family Guide to Health and Nutrition And much more …

20 Health and Wellness Resource Center

21 Try It!

22 Why? Provide equitable access to a substantial, core level of information resources for every citizen - all ages every school - students and teachers; all grades every library – regardless of community size or wealth Provide access anytime and anywhere

23 Dollars and Sense It costs the state $2 million per year to provide these electronic information databases It would cost libraries, schools and colleges a total of $22.8 million per year to purchase the same databases individually

24 Demand is Spiraling Users conducted a total of: 87,314 searches in July 99,178 searches in August (+ 13%) 310,635 searches in September (+ 213%) 573,548 searches in October (+ 85%)

25 Brought to you by Connecticut General Assembly

26 At the recommendation of Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell

27 Administered by Connecticut State Library in conjunction with State Department of Higher Education

28 For further information Contact your local library Contact the Connecticut Digital Library office at: (888) (toll-free in CT) (Jane Emerson) (Bill Sullivan)

29 Epilogue Information is the currency of democracy. -- Thomas Jefferson