[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BICENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE COIN ACT OF 1998

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                               speech of

                           HON. SAM GEJDENSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 4, 1998

  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3790.
  The major beneficiary of this bill will be the National Digital 
Library. The ``profits'' from the bill will go to make millions of 
items available freely on the internet by the year 2000. It is a most 
fitting goal as the Library of Congress celebrates its 200th birthday 
in the year 2000. The Library will be using the world's most advanced 
technology for further education of all our citizens.
  Already more than 500,000 items from the Library's incomparable 
collections relating to American history are on line, including Civil 
War photographs, presidential papers, documents relating to the civil 
rights movement, and women's suffrage. Nearly 62 million transactions 
are now being handled by the Library's on-line services.
  These services are used by students, scholars and the general public 
in the U.S. and around the world. The Library's web site has been 
called a ``publicly and privately financed funded taxpayers dream'' by 
Wired Magazine and an ``internet hit'' by the New York Times.
  We have more than the 290 co-sponsors required to bring this 
bipartisan bill to the floor. I applaud the Library and urge all my 
colleagues to support this worthy bill.

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