In the Classroom or at Home, "http://www.loc.gov" Provides Vivid Resource for K-12 Scholars

In the Classroom or at Home, "http://www.loc.gov"
Provides Vivid Resource for K-12 Scholars

Bell Atlantic Makes Second Installment on $1.5 Million Pledge
to Enrich Image Bank in Library of Congress' National Digital
Library

October 16, 1996

VIRTUALLY ANYWHERE, Worldwide -- It's like a time
machine; a window into the past.

• In dusky tones of gray and black, three rugged Confederate prisoners of war await their fate near a pile of split logs outside Gettysburg, Pa.

• Lurching up out of a lush green valley, huge columns of volcanic
  rock photographed in the 1870s await protection under conservation
  laws.

• In the language of the day, an essay from 1910 screams out for protection of America's natural wonders.

Computer screens in school computer labs, libraries and home offices
worldwide can conjure up vivid images3 like these with a few key strokes,
drawing on the vast collections of American images3 in the collections of
the Library of Congress.

The National Digital Library (http://www.loc.gov) is growing rapidly,
processing more than 20 million transactions per month from travelers
on the world's information networks -- thousands of times more than could
ever visit the Washington, D.C., landmark and peruse the archives in person.

A new infusion of images3 will be posted on the site in the coming
months,
supported in part by the second of five installments of a
$1.5 million grant
to
the library made by the Bell Atlantic Foundation as part of the company's
Project
CANDLE-Creating a National Digital Library for Everyone.

Besides funding the digital storage of images3 from the library, Bell
Atlantic is supporting high-speed
ISDN (integrated services digital
network) hookups for schools in the mid-Atlantic region. Schools in
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, are "on
line" thanks to the Project CANDLE grant.

"When we announced this grant last year, only early technology
adopters were conversant with the World Wide Web, toying with its
novelty, fancying its amusements and probing its reference
materials," said Raymond W. Smith, chairman
and CEO of Bell Atlantic and member of the library's James Madison
Council. "But the explosion in demand for access to information and
the use of networks to extract it from resources as rich as the Library
of Congress were inevitable.

"That young people no longer have to rely on the choices made by
textbook photo editors to sample images3 of life decades and centuries
back is an option that will enrich their learning experience and their
appreciation for their heritage," Smith said.

In July, the library added images3 from three more of its vast
collections, and plans have been drafted to add digitized photos and
documents from many other collections.

"The collections of the library belong to all Americans, not just
those who can make the trip to Washington," said Dr. James
Billington, librarian of Congress. "Congressional appropriations as
well as corporate support such as that from Bell Atlantic Corporation are
making the National Digital Library Program a valuable and popular public
resource."

Since the library opened its virtual doors, the library has already
revamped its home page, modified some of its visitor computer interfaces
and launched a student-friendly Learning Page
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/). The Learning Page offers students and teachers an organized approach to the vast collection.

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, with more than
110 million items, including the papers of 23 U.S. presidents. Its
collections are in nearly every language and format -- from Chinese
woodblock prints to compact disks. Founded in 1800 to serve the
reference needs of Congress, the library has grown into an unparalleled
treasure house of knowledge and creativity.

The Library of Congress' National Digital Library Program aims, in
collaboration with other libraries, to digitize and make freely available
millions of items on the Internet by the year 2000. Already the library
is making available such unique items materials as the Gettysburg
Address in Lincoln's hand, African-American
pamphlets relating to slavery and the civil rights movement,
photographs of the Civil War, political speeches, short films, and other
items rare to America's history.

Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE:
BEL) is at the forefront of the new communications, entertainment and
information industry. In the mid-Atlantic region, the company is the
premier provider of local telecommunications and advanced services.
Globally, it is one of the largest investors in the high-growth wireless
communication marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial
interest in Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing
high-growth national and international business opportunities in all
phases of the industry.

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