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MARY JANE PARKPatrons will be privy to endless information through a Florida system launched from the Seminole library.
SEMINOLE - On Tuesday, public library cards throughout Florida became passports to worlds of information previously unavailable or too costly for most individuals, even some institutions.
Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and State Librarian Judith Ring came to the Seminole Community Library at St. Petersburg College to announce completion of the first phase of a statewide project that will eventually allow holders of public library cards to tap the resources of every public library, community college and university in the state.
They launched the Florida Electronic Library (www.flelibrary.org) which offers free access to databases that supply online magazines, newspapers, almanacs, encyclopedias, books and documents, plus one-on-one online help.
"We're particularly proud of the Florida Electronic Library's "Ask a Librarian' service, which will allow real-time chat to provide answers to users' information requests," Ring said in a press release. "Librarians will be able to guide users through Web searches and interact with them online."
The electronic library contains a database in Spanish and information valuable to grade school, high school and college students, Ring said.
Phase 2 of the project, which officials hope will be ready by mid 2004, will be a virtual card catalog listing all the holdings in all public libraries throughout Florida and a digital collection of more than 1,000 photographs.
"That whole project has been building for several years now, and there's a wealth of information," Ring said.
By the end of 2004, the Web site should have its "biggest and most important piece," the Florida Electronic Library Portal, a search engine to all information in the Florida Electronic Library, Ring said.
"This is not Google," said Michael Bryan, the Seminole Community Library director. "This is way beyond Google."
The Florida Electronic Library was developed for about $2-million, a relative pittance in state budget terms.
The state spent about $1-million of that to subscribe to Gale Databases, which individual libraries had been purchasing.
"This levels the playing field" for library patrons, Ring said, especially for people using libraries that can't afford the Gale service.
State officials chose to make the announcement in the Seminole library's digital auditorium because of its up-to-date technology and its partnership with St. Petersburg College, Ring said. The library, which opened in August, received $500,000 in state construction money.
It "a very modern, up-to-date facility that has great Internet access for its patrons," Ring said. "We really wanted to capitalize on all those" factors, she said. "It's a wonderful example of a joint partnership."
Holders of cards in the Pinellas County library cooperative may have trouble signing on to the site using only the numbers accompanying the bar code on the back. Adding the last four digits of the card holders' Social Security numbers should allow entry.