Project expands on-line access

A statewide collaboration is bringing new library resources to Mississippi public schools and communities.

Funded by the state Legislature, the project launched this month is called MAGNOLIA-an acronym for Mississippi Alliance for Gaining New Opportunities Through Library Information Access.

MAGNOLIA is providing Internet accessible and CD-ROM databases that include such resources as "Facts on File," newspaper and serials databases, business and education databases, and the full text of more than 2,000 journals.

Approximately 1,200 public school, community college and university libraries will benefit, said Frances Coleman, MSU dean of libraries and chair of the project's steering committee.

"Through the efforts of Sen. Grey Ferris of Vicksburg, the Legislature appropriated $560,000 to expand on-line access to periodicals and other databases," she said. State librarians, the Council for Education Technology, the Mississippi Library Commission, and the University Library Directors' Council collaborated for more than a year to establish the alliance, she added.

Other university MAGNOLIA participants include technical adviser Stephen Cunetto and database selection chair Suzy Turner. Most of the online resources are being provided by EBSCO Publishing of Ipswich, Mass.

Mississippi State patrons can access Mitchell Memorial Library from the university home page at <www.msstate.edu>. From there, access "electronic resources," then "EBSCOhost."

Libraries with no Internet capabilities are receiving the information on CD-ROM.

"We hope this is the beginning of many cooperative projects among all libraries that will benefit all Mississippians," Coleman said.

For more information, visit the MAGNOLIA website at <www.lib.usm.edu/~magnolia/magnolia.html>.