Over the past decade, BISON has been transformed from the name for the University Libraries' online catalog to the moniker for the Libraries' Web site http://ublib.buffalo.edu, which includes the catalog, as well as a wide variety of information resources-including databases-that have been highlighted in this column. As more of these databases have added full-text journal articles to their offerings, and as more traditional library functions have been added to the Web site, such as the ability to renew a book, it has been increasingly common to refer to BISON as a "virtual library." The use of the phrase "virtual library" to describe a Web site may have been somewhat premature-and debatable-but it becomes less and less of a strained metaphor.

For example, BISON now has its very own eBook collection as a result of a subscription to netLibrary http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/netlibrary.html made available to the UB community through the SUNYConnect initiative. NetLibrary consists of two collections of electronic versions of books: the "UB Library Collection" and the "Public Collection."

The "UB Library Collection" consists at present of 800 books, including scholarly and professional titles on a wide range of subjects, such as history, philosophy, computer science and women's studies.

The "Public Collection" consists of close to 4,000 non-copyrighted eBooks made available through such digitization projects as Project Gutenberg. You must be a current UB student or staff member to use the non-public domain (i.e. copyrighted) "UB Collection." Not only does netLibrary's eBook collection allow users the opportunity to pick choice quotes for term papers and other research projects from the comfort of one's home or office computer, it provides BISON users with the opportunity to search the collection by keyword or phrase. For example, the phrase "hate crime" appears in 150 eBooks in the "UB Collection" and you actually can pinpoint the occurrence of the phrase in each individual eBook.

And, if you need advice on your research, need to know how to use a particular information resource, need a quick fact or other bit of library-related information, don't trudge over to the library-send an Instant Message instead. BISON's Instant Message Reference Service gives you the opportunity to ask a question from your computer without leaving your chair. BISON has offered email reference service for several years, but now through April 30 you can ask librarians or library-school students questions in real-time in our "ublib" chat room. This "virtual reference desk" is powered by AOL Instant message software, but you don't need an AOL account to use its services. Just go to the Instant Message Web page at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/help/refchat.html and follow the simple instructions. Hours vary, so be certain to check the hours posted on the "entrance page." But you generally can count on us from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1-11 p.m. Sunday. How's that for making the virtual library real and easy?

For more information on netLibrary and/or Instant Message reference service, contact Gemma DeVinney, UB Libraries Web coordinator at libweb@acsu.buffalo.edu.