Connecticut residents can now access the digital library at www.iconn.org and gain a core set of information resources.

"The digital library will provide immediate, free access to timely and reliable full-text information. Residents can log on at home, office, library or school for research and for full-text databases, journals and periodicals," Lt. Governor Rell said following the unveiling of the site.

"The Connecticut digital library is an important additional tool for Connecticut residents to use for research for educational, cultural or personal interest. The wide variety of information available at iCONN.org will be invaluable to anyone doing homework, looking for professional guidance or conducting business research," State Librarian Kendall Wiggin noted.

The initial set of resources will serve a variety of needs, including readers’ advisory, student research and homework help, business research, professional development for educators and consumer health research. The site also has large periodical databases tailored to different age ranges and one devoted exclusively to the most popular Spanish periodicals. Other licensed information resources will be added as funding permits.

A statewide library catalogue – reQuest – allows users to search more than 300 library collections in Connecticut simultaneously and to place requests for materials over the Web. The site also provides searching skills tutorials; a virtual reference desk that provides Web-based dictionaries and encyclopedias, subject guides to Internet resources, and other reference works; and dictionaries of Web-accessible library catalogues and library home pages in Connecticut and worldwide.

The Connecticut Digital Library is a component of the Connecticut Education Network, which was created through a bill based on the educational technology plan developed by Lt. Governor Rell. The Digital Library is administered by the Connecticut State Library in conjunction with the State Department of Higher Education, under the auspices of the Commission for Educational Technology.

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Release Date: April 9, 2001
Contact: 860-524-7384