No, you haven't been magically transported to Washington, D.C. Instead, you've entered the electronic version of the nation's grandest depository of information. The Library of Congress is online, which means you no longer have to be in the capital physically to appreciate its incredible resources.
The Library - established in 1800 with a $5,000 appropriation - primarily serves Congress, as its name suggests. Now, however, it can also serve the rest of the federal government, the global library research community, practitioners of the arts and sciences or anyone having a computer, a modem, communications software and access to the Internet.
This stunning digital collection of the nation's intellectual heritage is available in two forms - LC MARVEL (Library of Congress Machine-Assisted Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library) and LOCIS (Library of Congress Information System). Both offer a wealth of data, though in amount and variety of information, MARVEL clearly overwhelms LOCIS.
On the other hand, LOCIS provides access to federal legislation not available through MARVEL. However, of the two, MARVEL is the easiest to visit for Internet newcomers and can be enjoyed through two of the country's larger commercial online services - America Online and Delphi.
GETTING STARTED
The simplest and fastest method for opening MARVEL's electronic doors is to use its gopher server. Gopher was created in 1991 at the University of Minnesota (home of the Golden Gophers) to make the Internet less chaotic by organizing information into menus. By selecting a menu, you are transported to other menus, and eventually to a text file. You can travel endlessly across the Internet by choosing one menu after the next. If you're using communications software that emulates a text-based UNIX or DOS environment, each menu will be numbered, with 18 selections to a screen. If you're using the newer graphics gopher software or a World Wide Web browser, the menu arrives as one long list without numbers. In any case, the information is the same.
At the Internet prompt (except for America Online and Delphi, which will be discussed later), if using terminal emulation software (Procomm Plus, Crosstalk, WinComm, Smartcom etc.) type: gopher marvel.loc.gov
If using graphical software, at the gopher prompt, simply type: marvel.loc.gov
If you are using a Web browser, at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) prompt type gopher://marvel.loc.gov and press the "Enter" or "Return" key.
This screen will then appear (without the numbers when using graphical software):
1. About LC MARVEL/
2. Events, Facilities, Publications, and Services/
3. Research and Reference (Public Services)/
4. Libraries and Publishers (Technical Services)/
5. Copyright/
6. Library of Congress On-line Systems/
7. Employee Information/
8. U.S. Congress/
9. Government Information/
10. Global Electronic Library (by Subject)/
11. Internet Resources/
12. What's New on LC MARVEL/
13. Search LC MARVEL Menus/
You can spend years exploring those 13 items because they lead to one treasure chest after another. Most of them essentially provide descriptions of the many services available through the library, which are numerous and include employment opportunities, access to LOCIS and a multitude of Internet search features. The ones with the substantive information about government, law and a host of other topics are Copyright, U.S. Congress, Government Information and Global Electronic Library. You'll be amazed at what is packed into those categories.
Selecting Copyright takes you to the Copyright Office, where you can register a copyright, search the copyright files or generally keep up with developments in copyright law. Selecting U.S. Congress allows you to wallow in the Capitol by offering the Congressional Research Service, Congressional gophers and directories, House legislation from the 103rd Congress, a guide to legislative documents at the library, miscellaneous Congressional resources available on Internet, online legislative databases, legislative support agencies and the results of the 1994 election.
Choosing Government Information introduces you to a world from which you may never recover. It leads you to a menu that appears short - Federal Information Resources, State and Local Government Information, Foreign Government Information, International Government Information - but don't be fooled by its brevity. A decision to enter any of the four chambers of knowledge may take you to the White House and every federal agency you can imagine, or on a tour of the states, with their various laws and legislation, or on a voyage around the world, with kiosks available along the way in case you want to know anything about NAFTA, NATO, the Summit of the Americas and a range of other international issues.
THE GLOBAL ELECTRONIC LIBRARY
The Global Electronic Library presents broad categories of topics, which open the doors to a nearly endless array of menus covering library science, philosophy and religion, language, linguistics and literature, the arts, social sciences, law, economics and business, history and geography, medicine, natural science, mathematics, applied science and technology, and sports and recreation.
The beauty of electronic access to this wonderland of information is that it's open all day, everyday, though it can get crowded and slow during working hours. Also, anytime you stumble across a document, essay, statute or memo that you want to keep, you can print it, save it to disk, or even e-mail it to yourself or anyone else. Be forewarned, however, that the Library of Congress MARVEL can be addictive. Fortunately, it's an addiction beneficial to mind, body and bank account.
OTHER ACCESS
MARVEL also is accessible via telnet, by typing telnet marvel.loc.gov at the prompt if using terminal emulation software, or marvel.loc.gov at the telnet prompt if using graphical software, or telnet://marvel.loc.gov at the URL prompt if using a Web browser. Login as marvel. The Library of Congress offers access via the World Wide Web too, at http://cweb.loc.gov/homepage/lchp.html
While the Web is easy to navigate and the graphics are pleasant, it is excruciatingly slow and currently recommended only if you have time to burn.
If you're a subscriber to America Online or Delphi, gopher access is simple. For America Online, select "Go To" from the top of the main AOL menu screen. Select "Keyword" from the popdown menu. Type "gopher" in the keyword box and click "OK" or press "Enter." Select "Government and Politics." Select "List of U.S. Government Gophers." Select "Library of Congress MARVEL."
AOL also offers a limited, non-Internet version of the library. To access it, select "Go To" from the top of the main AOL menu screen. Then select "Keyword" from the popdown menu. Type "loc" in the keyword box and click "OK" or press "Enter."
For Delphi subscribers, type "internet" at the Main Menu prompt and press "Enter." Press "Enter at" the Internet SIG Menu prompt. Type "gopher" at the Internet SIG>Enter Your Selection: prompt and press "Enter." Type "10" (Government and Politics) at the Enter Item Number prompt and press "Enter." Find Library of Congress MARVEL Gopher (it's listed alphabetically, but moves around, hovering in the 30s), and press "Enter."
Congress Goes Online
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Online access to congressional bill text and other legislative information is now being provided through the Internet's World Wide Web. Users can do keyword and bill number searches for legislation and get congress member electronic mail addresses, House rules, and other data.
The online system - called Thomas after the third U.S. president - can be accessed at http://thomas.loc.gov.
