Department: Libraries

NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE (NLS) INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

Judith Dixon, Ph.D.
National Library Service/p>

The Library of Congress provides access to information about its resources and services over the Internet. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) is represented with its Union Catalog and with other NLS publications.

The Union Catalog and the catalog of books in process are available through a search system called LOCIS. LOCIS and other publications are accessible through the Library of Congress's gopher, called LC MARVEL; the Library of Congress's World Wide Web site; and through the Library's ftp site. These services are described below.

LC MARVEL

The Library of Congress Machine-Assisted Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library (LC MARVEL) is a Campus-Wide Information System that combines the vast amounts of information available about the Library with easy access to diverse electronic resources on the Internet. Its goal is to serve members of Congress, Library of Congress staff, and constituents throughout the world. Documents are, for the most part, in ASCII text.

LC MARVEL can be accessed in several ways:

1. From another gopher server;
2. By using gopher client software and pointing to marvel.loc.gov, port 70; and
3. By using a World wide Web browser and connecting to gopher://marvel.loc.gov/.

Main Menu

The Main Menu of LC MARVEL consists of the following selections:

1. About LC MARVEL
2. Events, Facilities, Publications, and Services
3. Research and Reference (Public Services)
4. Libraries and Publishers (Technical Services)
5. Copyright
6. Library of Congress Online Systems
7. Employee Information
8. U.S. Congress
9. Government Information
10. Global Electronic Library (by Subject)
11. Internet Resources
12. What's New on LC MARVEL
13. Search LC MARVEL Menus

From the main menu select option #2: Events, Facilities, Publications, and Services. Then select option #6: Services to Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals, and follow the available options to see NLS publications and databases.

World Wide Web

http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls

It includes an audio sample of a talking book and links to NLS information available on LC MARVEL and to regional and subregional libraries in the NLS network that offer information on the Internet.

This page can also be accessed from the main Library of Congress homepage under "Research and Collections Services."

FTP Site

A limited number of files are also available through the Library's anonymous site. The address of the FTP host is ftp.loc.gov (or 140.147.2.69). The directory /pub/nls includes a SCORPIO search guide and subdirectories containing NLS bimonthly listings and annual catalogs.

E-mail

Internet users may also send messages to NLS. The NLS Internet address is nls@loc.gov.