The University has announced a five-year program to help the Library system move forward in the digital information age.

The Harvard University Library Digital Initiative will enhance the Library's current efforts in the digital arena and give it new capacity to create, acquire, deliver, and archive electronic materials.

"With the rise of new information technologies and the growing availability of other materials in digital form, university libraries today face significant new challenges and opportunities," said President Neil L. Rudenstine.

"Harvard's library system is one of the world's greatest academic resources, and there is much to be done to carry it forward into the new digital environment, even as we maintain the strength of our traditional collections," he said. "How we move ahead will have deep implications for the future of learning, not only here but in an increasingly interconnected world."

Professor Sidney Verba, director of the University Library, said the program will continue the Library's work to make digital information accessible to its users and to enhance access to traditional -- that is, paper -- collections.

"We are already in the middle of the digital initiative," he said. "Our catalog is digitized, we have hundreds of journals and thousands of images in digital form. This initiative represents a commitment to build a sound technological infrastructure for digital information and to develop a community of highly skilled library and computing professionals. It is a necessary step for the University."

Verba and others used to describe this project as the building of a 'digital library,' he explained. "We now call it the 'Library Digital Initiative' to make clear that we do not intend to create a new, separate library. Rather, we see digital information as a powerful complement to our historical print collection.

"The future of research and teaching will involve many kinds of information, seamlessly connected. We want the Harvard Library to continue to be the finest university library, able to provide all forms of scholarly information."

Harvard is not alone in facing the need to expand its digital capacity, and most peer institutions have concerted programs under way. This effort will allow Harvard to coordinate activities with other research libraries, ensuring that researchers and students here have access to electronic information wherever it is held.

The announcement of the Library Digital Initiative follows several months of discussion between the Library and the President, Provost, and the Deans of the Faculties.

A working group to develop the project proposal began deliberations last summer. The group was chaired by Nancy M. Cline, Roy E. Larsen Librarian of Harvard College, and it included John Deeley, administrative dean of the Medical School; Dale Flecker, associate director for planning and systems in the University Library; Barbara Graham, associate director for administration and programs in the University Library; Nancy Maull, administrative dean of the FAS; Tom Michalak, librarian of the Business School; Terry Martin, librarian of the Law School; and Anne Margulies, associate provost.

Specifically, the project will create the technical foundation for storing and accessing digital library materials. A key component of that foundation will be HOLLIS, the Harvard OnLine Library Information System, an electronic catalog that provides information on books, journals, recordings, maps, and other materials in the collections here and elsewhere. The libraries expect to have a new generation HOLLIS system (HOLLIS II) available in 1999.

In addition, the Library Digital Initiative will make available a staff of specialists to advise librarians and other employees about related issues, and it will give library users a set of digital resources to support teaching and research activities, among the benefits.

The project is expected to entail an investment of some $12 million over the next five years. Efforts are under way to raise support while the initiative moves ahead.

"By the end of the five-year period," said Dale Flecker of the University Library, "Harvard will have the capacity to collect, organize, serve, and archive digital materials with the sophistication and ease with which it now manages traditional media. Using the digital collections will be part of the daily activity of students and scholars across the University.

"The Harvard Library will have a solid base for adapting to the inevitable market and technical changes that will continue to take place in the digital world."