SUNYergy V.3 No.1 May I Get a Virtual Coffee with That?

		January 2001 Volume 3 Number 1 Page 5
	May I Get a Virtual Coffee with That? SUNY and netLibrary

Traditionally, a library catalog represented the materials housed in that library. That tradition is changing. Nowadays, a library catalog may include mention of items that are solely in an electronic format. One example of this is the addition of bibliographic records that represent electronic books.

Stephen King's Got Nothing on Us
The last issue of SUNYergy mentioned that SUNYConnect had acquired netLibrary titles. Combined with a similar collection offered by Nylink, this involves 2000+ electronic books. More than 25% of the LAIP libraries and a significant number of other SUNY libraries have added catalog records for these ebooks. [New SUNY Logo]

These and similar efforts, combined with WWW-based online catalogs, result in increased access to library materials inside and outside the library building itself. A student at SUNY Farmingdale searches for information on the current status of U.S. armed forces in East Timor, retrieves a description of a government report, clicks on the "hot link" and is then looking at the full report. A Buffalo State College student wants to live to be 100; searches Buffalo State's web-based catalog, calls up the netLibrary record, and with a couple of additional mouse clicks can be looking at the complete text of Inlander and Kelly's "100 ways to live to 100".

Just in Case; Just in Time; Just Do It
Allowing an eighteen year old undergraduate student to surf from the library catalog to the complete contents of a relevant title is one way to promote use of other library resources and to urge that student towards 21st century information literacy.