[Tasl] TEL News Release

[Pat Thompson]

Tennessee Libraries:
 
Below is a press release that relates recent TEL news.  Please
distribute it widely to local newspapers and other media.  
 
Pat Thompson
 
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Press Release—Tennessee Electronic Library                             

July 2007
 
Recently the Tennessee State Library and Archives signed a new contract
with Thomson Gale for resources available through Tennessee Electronic
Library (TEL).  The contract spans five years from October 1, 2007 to
September 30, 2012. 
 
TEL is collection of subscription databases made up of over 100 million
print sources that gives Tennesseans an easy path to reliable
information from encyclopedias, reference books, magazines, journals,
and much more. In most cases, TEL provides full-text articles, with full
citation information.  Tennesseans can log on to TEL from any
internet-accessible computer—24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Go to the
TEL portal at www.tennessee.gov/tsla and click “TEL” under the “Catalogs”
heading. (Call your local library for the off-site password.) 
 
New features will be added to TEL beginning October 1, 2007.  InfoTrac
Science, a subset of InfoTrac OneFile, will contain science-related
titles that will make searching for science articles easier for
students.  Also, InfoTrac Custom Newspapers will provide full-text
newspaper articles from more than 140 newspapers, including selected
articles from The Chattanooga Times-Free Press, The Commercial Appeal,
and The Knoxville News-Sentinel.
 
Other recent upgrades to TEL were rolled out earlier this year. 
Academic OneFile, a database of over 11,000 scholarly journal and
magazine titles, provides Tennesseans with academic articles from
peer-reviewed publications.  Full-text coverage of the New York Times
newspaper is now available from 1995 to the present, with one-day delay
for uploading.  Multimedia content from news sources and information
services are now available in audio and podcast format. 
 
And there’s more to come. On Thursday, June 28, 2007, Governor Bredesen
signed into law the appropriations bill that included an additional $1
million in recurring funding for expansion of the Tennessee Electronic
Library (TEL).  Previously, TEL was purchased through federal funds
provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and
through pledges from Tennessee libraries.  
 
Jeanne Sugg, State Librarian and Archivist, has appointed a TEL
Database Selection Committee comprised of librarians from academic,
public, school, and special libraries.  This committee will elicit
suggestions for database purchase from libraries across Tennessee and
will make recommendations to the State Library based on those
suggestions.
 
For more information about how to use TEL, or to request TEL training
for a library, school, or civic group, contact Pat Thompson, Special
Projects Coordinator at the Tennessee State Library and Archives at
615-532-4627 or pat.thompson at state.tn.us .
 
 
Pat Thompson
Special Projects Coordinator
TN State Library and Archives
403 7th Avenue North
Nashville, TN  37243
Phone:  615.532.4627
Fax:  615.532.9904
Email:  pat.thompson at state.tn.us