onditions. It also offers the prospect of using image enhancement technology to
settle doubtful readings in the text. Network technology has facilitated direct
collaboration with American scholars and makes it possible for scholars around
the world to share in these discoveries. Curatorial and computing staff learned
a great deal which will inform any future programmes of digitisation and network
service provision the Library may undertake, and our publishing department is
considering the publication of an electronic scholarly edition of Beowulf. This
work has not only advanced scholarship; it has also captured the imagination of
a wider public, engaging people (through press reports and the availability over
computer networks of selected images and text) in the appreciation of one of the
primary artefacts of our shared cultural heritage."

Thanks to the digital library, the "traditional" library can finally join two
goals which used to be in contradiction - document preservation and document
communication. On the one hand, the documents are taken out of their shelves
only once to be scanned. On the other, the public can access them from the
screen, and easily go from one document to another, without a long waiting
period or the need to fill out forms.

The UNOG (United Nations of Geneva) Library, a leading European center for the
study of world affairs, is open to UN staff, scholars, researchers, diplomats,
journalists, and students. Its outstanding collections are especially strong on
disarmament, economics, human rights, international law and current events. On
July 3, 1997, the UNOG Library inaugurated its new Cyberspace. Initiated by
Pierre Pelou, the Head of the Library, this electronic forum is primarily
intended to benefit representatives of the Permanent Missions, conference
delegations and international civil servants. It is also open to specialized
researchers, students, engineers and other interested professionals.

Designed and planned by Antonio Bustamante, architect and Head of the Buildings,
Parks and Gardens Unit, the cyberspace is comprised of 24 computerized
workstations that have been installed on the redesigned first floor of the UNOG
Library to provide the following services:

a) Access to a broad range of electronic resources, such as: the Internet; the
United Nations Optical Disk System; an infoserver with about 50 networked
CD-ROMs; the United Nations Bibliographical Information System (UNBIS), t