Muns, 'THOMAS - Legislative Information on the Internet', LIBRES v5n02 (July 31, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/libres/libres-v5n02-muns-thomas LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal ISSN 1058-6768 1995 Volume 5 Issue 2; July 31. Quarterly LIBRE5N2_MUNS ____________________________________________________________ THOMAS - Legislative Information on the Internet by Raleigh Muns, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA. Full Text of CONGRESSIONAL RECORD and Bills for 103rd and 104th Congresses, updated within 36 to 48 hours of House or Senate activity. Access by pointing your World Wide Web (WWW) browser at Uniform Resource Locator (URL): http://thomas.loc.gov or use the Internet Telnet command to THOMAS.LOC.GOV The test: Can THOMAS be accessed from public access dumb terminals at the Kansas City, MO Public Library? The answer: Yes (by using the Unix system's Lynx World Wide Web browsing software). On January 6, 1995, at least two newspapers wrote about the Library of Congress' THOMAS World Wide Web system which had come on line the previous day. One, the NEW YORK TIMES, dwelt on the confusion of too much government information, the need for expensive hardware, and stated that few legislators were on the Internet anyway (Edmund L. Andrews, "Mr. Smith Goes to Cyberspace", NYT, Jan. 6, 1995, Sec. A., p. 25 - Late Ed. Final). The other newspaper quoted a lesser known Internet expert and humble Missouri librarian (me) who touted the immediate useability of a system that could be accessed with cheap computers and modems (e.g., an Apple II with an Atari 2400 baud modem)(Rebecca S. Weiner, "Congress Goes On-Line In New Open-Door Policy", ST. LOUIS POST- DISPATCH, Jan. 6, 1995, Sec. A. p.1, 7). Though not originally from Missouri, I've enthusiastically adopted this state's infamous "show me" attitude. Inspection of THOMAS at its inception six months ago, while it was still in its embryonic state, "showed me" an immediately useable and valuable tool. Improvements since make THOMAS one of the few "real" Internet resources available. The people developing and maintaining THOMAS are working with such fury and and producing such quality, why, it's as if they're in fear of losing their jobs any day now in some Congressional purge! There is a distinctive aroma of "librarianship" about THOMAS. One can perform full-text searches, browse issues of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD by date or subject, and even check out "Hot Legislation" for the week. The system has a consistent look and feel, multiple access points, and full documentation. Edward F. Willet's "How Our Laws are Made," accessible from the main THOMAS page, is a textbook for the American legislative process. THOMAS also points, and very concisely too, to an array of other United States government Internet resources including the House of Representatives and Senate gophers, the Library of Congress itself, and C-Span resources. Some interesting statistics available on THOMAS show just how heavily it is being used, and by whom (see TABLE 1 below). The total number of bytes transmitted to date works out to about 2000 bytes for each and every American (and about 9 bytes per person on the planet). A third of all users are commercial users (e.g., America Online) and account for the single largest group of THOMAS' accessors. THOMAS is spewing out one file to somone on the InterneT everythree seconds. Despite all this activity, my personal experience with the speed of THOMAS is excellent. Even during peak Internet periods response times appear to be faster than anything this side of Harvard's HOLLIS and the University of California's MELVYL online public access catalogs. Edmund Andrews' NEW YORK TIMES article cited at the outset of this review "poo poo-ed" the connectivity of Congress by pointing out that only 7 Senators and 36 Representatives had e-mail addresses. Since the birth of THOMAS, 41 Senators and 101 Representatives have registered e-mail addresses. Not that any of these legislators will answer your e-mail, but the Thomas system does give eager constituents transcripts of what they've been up to, be it Sonny Bono requesting a leave of absence to do private business, or Bob Dole pontificating about a prospective Surgeon General (browse the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD for June 21, 22, and 23 for the Surgeon General debate as a sample of how easy, and interesting, THOMAS can be). I also must state that I am not a fan of Newt Gingrich (nor do I think him a heinous individual), but the existence of THOMAS is unambiguously connected to a push by the current Speaker of the House and full credit must be accorded him. As one of four initial testers of THOMAS, I sent e-mail comments detailing my honest positive experiences with THOMAS to Mr. Gingrich, the President, the Vice President (and, no, none of my OWN representatives had e-mail addresses at the time). I am told that the Speaker quoted from each of the four testers' e-mail messages at a press conference on January 5, 1995, hence my ability to now say: "Newt quotes me, I don't quote Newt!" Please note. This is indeed a rave review of the Library of Congress' THOMAS World Wide Web site. TABLE 1: THOMAS USEAGE STATISTICS 1/1/1995 to 6/22/1995 Total Files Transmitted 5,278,844 Total Bytes Transmitted 48,091,546,128 Average Files/Day 30,514 Average Bytes/Day 277,985,816 PERCENT USERS BY DOMAIN: COM (US Commercial) % 33 EDU (US Educational) % 14 NET (Network) % 09 GOV (US Government) % 07 LOC (Lib. of Congress) % 04 ORG (US Non-Profits) % 03 MIL (US Military) % 02 US (United States) % 02 -- (Unresolved) % 23 REST OF THE WORLD % 03 ____________________________________________________________ This document may be circulated freely with the following statement included in its entirety: Copyright Raleigh Muns, 1995. This article was originally published in _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) July 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 2. For any commercial use, or publication (including electronic journals), you must obtain the permission of the author: Raleigh Muns, Reference Librarian Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri-St. Louis SRCMUNS@UMSLVMA.UMSL.EDU To subscribe to LIBRES send e-mail message to listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with the text: subscribe libres _ ________________________________________