COLLEGE PARK, Md., Dec. 13 Early in the "real" millennium, the nation's premier library will take another huge step into the information age. That's when the Library of Congress (LC) will begin downloading its first complete set of an electronic journal archive. The subject of those journals even seems appropriate for this trailblazing effort; it is physics, which was largely responsible for the digital revolution.

The American Physical Society (APS), representing more than 42,000 physicists and a leader in the creation of e-journals, will soon begin the Library of Congress electronic information from more than a century of physics research including much scientific history on the electron itself. The complete archives of eight of the world's premier physics journals will soon be freely accessible to all LC users (patrons on site at the LC and members and staff of Congress). These archives will be constantly updated, creating an instant archive of both historic articles and the latest physics research.

"Electronic archives are like a living thing," says APS Treasurer Thomas McIlrath. "Not only is the information from a particular journal literally at your fingertips, but so are links to referenced research both backward and forward in time. Historians, for example, can easily see the impact of a paper on later scientific thinking." He points out that there are many other advantages of e-journals, including the reality that many things like moving images cannot be reproduced in print. The APS version of record for its scholarly journals is now the online version.

Considering such a valuable resource, LC's Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb explains that "publishers are attracted by the idea of having secondary sites for protection of their assets. At the same time, of course, libraries are concerned about saving memory as well as about making intellectual creation available for scholars."

The Library of Congress will not simply be accessing the data from an APS site, but will own a digital copy in their own archives. The Library will serve as a permanent repository of the journals that will be the property of the United States Government.

"This will assure that there will be a live copy of our archive available to the world, and preserved for future generations, in the event of a disaster," says APS Editor in Chief Martin Blume. He adds: "Librarians, as archivers of journals in the print world, have been concerned that digital resources might not be similarly preserved. This step with the Library of Congress should reassure them that access to our journals will always be available."

While this is somewhat uncharted territory, libraries are feeling a growing pressure to deal with the ever-increasing volume of digital information, and all involved agree that someone needs to take the first steps.

"The best way to make progress is to enter into pilot-like agreements to test the benefits, costs, policies, and procedures of various models," concludes Tabb. "We need to get started doing things rather just than worrying about them, and this pioneering agreement with the American Physical Society marks a major step in the right direction for America's national library."

Contacts: Randy Atkins, American Physical Society, (301) 209-3238, atkins@aps.org Guy Lamolinara, Library of Congress, (202) 707-9217, glam@loc.gov Any questions please contact: assocpub@aps.org