ACADEMIA

Internet2, the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium led by the research and higher education community, today announced that the Library of Congress has become a member of Internet2 and will connect to its high-performance Abilene Network. The Library plans to collaborate with the Internet2 community and leverage its advanced network infrastructure to facilitate wide-scale digital preservation projects, to enhance the development of an Internet-based database of U.S. newspapers, and to assist with its educational outreach programs. "The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people, and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations," said Laura E. Campbell, associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives at the Library of Congress. Campbell is leading the Library's National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. This national initiative is dedicated to working with other institutions to collect and preserve the digital heritage of the nation. "The Internet2 community has deployed advanced technical capabilities that will enable enhanced digital preservation and distribution of our country's most precious information," she added. The Library of Congress will begin using Internet2's networks for two significant preservation programs that require the use of advanced, high- bandwidth networking. The first project, called the National Digital Newspaper Program, seeks to create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress and be accessible via the web. With the help of Internet2's high-performance Abilene network, researchers collecting and creating these digitized materials can more efficiently send bandwidth- intensive files in seconds rather than minutes or hours. The Library also plans to work with Internet2 to facilitate its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. The Library, in partnership with many institutions, including several universities from the Internet2 community, is undertaking a broad-scale digital preservation program to preserve the increasing amounts of so called "born digital" materials for which no hard copies exist. The Library, with its partners, is working to collect historically significant digital content before it is altered or lost. "Internet2 provides the Library of Congress unique access to the research and education community, which shares its interest in providing students and researchers at all levels with the most comprehensive learning and information resources available," said Doug Van Houweling, president and CEO of Internet2. "We are pleased to work with the Library to help advance their important work in preserving and protecting our nation's most valuable information assets." The Library will also use Internet2's network to enhance its educational outreach program. With 34 state education networks connected to its high- performance network, over 25,000 K-20 institutions now have access to Internet2's network. With this infrastructure, schools across the country can better take advantage of the Library's online educational programs, which provide lesson plans -- among other materials -- for teachers in the K-12 community via the Learning Page Web site. Not only will the Library take advantage of its connectivity to Internet2's network for improved information exchange and content delivery, but it also plans to work closely with the Internet2 community to investigate and develop new information architectures for enhanced data searching and delivery, including METS schemas for the emerging need of XML standards as well as the use of IPv6. "We look forward," said Campbell, "to working closely with the Internet2 community to examine technologies that will assist in providing our users an even richer multimedia experience." Led by more than 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy. For more information, visit its Webswite.