May 9, 1997

Contact:
Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217

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Media Advisory: Library of Congress To Host Congressional Internet Caucus

WHAT: The Congressional Internet Caucus (http://www.netcaucus.org/) will hold a hearing called "Making Access Easier" to explore how the Internet can make the federal government more accessible and enhance education.

WHO: James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress
Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.)
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.)
Katherine D. Seelman, Director, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Department of Education
Barbara Smith, American Library Association
Srinija Srinivasan, Manager of Yahoo!
Jay Berman, Executive Director, Center for Democracy and Technology and democracy.net
Christopher Hedrick, Senior Program Manager, Libraries Online
Mark Albertson, Manager, Corporate Relations, Amdahl Corp.
Linda Price, Librarian and Internet Coordinator, Hine Junior High School, Washington, D.C.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 13, 3 p.m.

WHERE: Library of Congress Madison Building, Digital Library Visitors' Center (first floor Atrium), 101 Independence Ave. S.E.

Dr. Billington and the Library of Congress, a leader in providing intellectual content on the Internet, will host the Congressional Internet Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. White and Eshoo. Students from Plugged-In, a nonprofit organization in Palo Alto, Calif., that specializes in connecting low-income communities with information technology, and students from the Bainbridge Island School District in Washington state, will monitor the event from the West Coast and pose questions of participants.

The hearing will be cybercast live by democracy.net (http://www.democracy.net), a project of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Voters Telecommunications Watch, dedicated to increasing access to federal information via the Internet.

The National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress is making freely available key collections of the Library on the Internet (http://www.loc.gov). The Library is also a major source of electronic information about Congress through THOMAS (http://thomas.loc.gov), established in 1995 to enable all Americans to learn more about their lawmakers in Washington.

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PR 97-92
5/9/97
ISSN 0731-3527