Dartmouth has added the Encyclopedia Brittanica to the growing number of databases and resources students can access over the College's network.
The College is one of the testing sights for the 15th edition of the encyclopedia around the United States. It is scheduled to be released to the public this summer.
The database allows students to look up various subjects in the encyclopedia and browse through it from their computers in their dormitory rooms. It also allows them to cross reference with other related topics automatically.
Malcolm Brown, director of academic computing, said pictures are not available yet.
He said pictures and illustrations would be available in the new version and said negotiations are taking place with Encyclopedia Brittanica to make the database a permanent one on the College's computer network.
"It is a really neat project," Computing Director Larry Levine said. "It is the most powerful tool electronically."
Brown said, "It's an honor to be a test sight. The folks at EB have a lot of appreciation for how we're trying to get the word out."
He said the more people use the encyclopedia, the better Encyclopedia Brittanica will be able to fix and upgrade the program.
Encyclopedia Brittanica is one more addition to the College's "virtual library" available over its campus wide computer network.
Over the past few years, the College has aggressively increased the number of resources available over the computer system.
The number of resources has doubled over the past year, according to Brown.
Through the Dartmouth College Information System (DCIS) Navigator, students can access William Shakespeare's poetry, articles written in the school's daily newspaper and even the College's museum art collection.
