An Introduction to Services Accessible on the Internet

The Internet is an international wide area network linking computers in research and educational institutions in more than thirty countries. Services include access to electronic mail and bulletin board facilities, access to machine-readable texts such as electronic serials, and the capacity to download complex text files and software. As libraries inevitably move toward greater cooperative resource sharing, the Internet will become an increasingly important tool in providing access to these resources. Libraries suffering from budget cutbacks must look for alternative and creative ways of providing the same level of service with decreasing physical and personnel resources. The Internet, an internationaltelecommunications and computer network, is potentially a tool which can expand a library's access to a vast range of services without increasing costs. For authorized users, generally transmitting on the Internet is free. In addition many of the services accessible on the Internet are also free of charge. The objective of this article is to explain what the Internet is and how it can be used advantageously in libraries. The strength of this network is in the types of services and the range of resources which it makes aocessible. The article will provide an overview of the electronic mail service, bulletin boards and electronicpublications available, as well as information on accessing online public access catalogs, databases and archives.