Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is

the library that has served Pittsburgh and the surrounding

communities since 1895. Even in its earliest days the Library's

mission was to reach out as its founder intended: in order to

contribute "to the enlightenment and the joys of the mind." Today

the Library is doing that through the power of computers.

A database is

a collection of information organized to make it easier

to find the information you are looking for. It can be a hundred

index cards with handwritten recipes that you keep in a shoebox

or it can be thousands of patient files with their medical

histories that your doctor keeps in a computer.

A digital library is

a collection of books, newspaper articles, photographs, charts,

reports, etc. that has been converted from paper and words into

a language that can be "read" by a computer, stored in the

computer's memory, and displayed on command on the computer's

screen so that it can be seen, read or heard by human beings.

An electronic library is

another term for a digital library.

Email is

the quick way to say "electronic mail." That is, it is a method

of communicating by which messages are sent from one computer to

another computer and then read on the computer's screen or

printed out onto paper.

Information is

what is valuable to you by helping you make your day-to-day

decisions and enriching your life. "Information" can be as simple

as the the birthdate or anniversary of someone you love. Other

"information" can be more complex and you might have to pay to

get it.

Information can be at what time your PAT bus arrives at your corner;

information can be what jobs are available in the Pittsburgh area;

information can be how to enroll in classes at Pitt;

information can be the sources for money to pay for the classes at Pitt;

information can be who built your house and when;

information can be whether Pittsburgh is spelled with or without an "h" and why;

information can be how did your city councilperson vote on an

issue you care about;

information can be what are Roberto Clemente's lifetime stats;

information can be who do you call to have your garbage picked up;

information can be what is ALCOA selling for on the stock market today.

One of the big questions now facing the world is who is going to control information and the access to it!

Information Renaissance is

a nonprofit corporation that promotes the development of regional

networking infrastructure in support of education, community

development and economic revitalization.

The Information Superhighway is

a phrase that describes how computers allow people to "travel"

all over the world to be able to find the information that is

important to them for school, for work, for entertainment and

for better lives.

The Internet is

all of the computers around the world that work together to make

the information on the "Information Superhighway" available.

No one person, no one government, no one computer controls the Internet.

Online means

that one computer can "talk to" another computer or to several

computers because they are part of a network.

An online forum is

a way for people to discuss topics of interest to them and to

share this discussion with a wide audience. The comments and

conversations take place on computers and can be read by anyone

and everyone at their convenience. Often these comments and

conversations are "saved" so that a "library" of all the

discussions is created and can be referred to at anytime in the future.

The World Wide Web is

also known as "WWW" and is where most of the "action" on the

"Information Superhighway" is. It is made up of millions of

"Web pages"--some made by elementary school kids, some by Sony

and Walt Disney, some by the White House and other government

agencies, and some by people who just want the world to see

their families or their pets.

Manchester Electronic Branch Library: About This Site
Manchester Electronic Branch Library