During two days last November, Athens-Clarke County reference librarian Clare Auwarter helped a young mother find information on car seats, an older patron investigate knee replacement surgery, a job seeker gather data for an upcoming interview, a young woman learn more about African-American artist Jacob Lawrence and a high-school student research the fast-food industry.

Although the requests are not unusual, the ease with which Auwarter can help patrons find the information is unique within the United States. Using GALILEO, Georgia Library Learning Online, Auwarter can access a collection of 23 databases by touching a few keys on a computer. In fact, any Georgian can.

That is because the Office of Public Libraries, Planning and Technology -- a unit of the Department of Technical and Adult Education since FY 1997 -- is part of a collaborative effort to create a statewide electronic library. The first step was to connect all 56 public library systems to the Internet. In FY 1997, $1.2 million was appropriated by the Georgia General Assembly to provide each public library system with three computer workstations, a printer, four dial-in phone lines and access to GALILEO and the Internet through PeachNet, the state's telecommunications network for education. The next step is to connect one library in each county - or an additional 101 libraries - by the end of 1998.

The impetus for GALILEO dates back to 1994 and a group of academic librarians interested in using electronic technology to benefit all Georgia libraries. "There was a lot of appeal to the idea of having one set of resources, in effect, a statewide library," says William Gray Potter, university librarian at the University of Georgia and one of the originators of the GALILEO project.

While academic librarians were developing GALILEO, a separate, parallel pilot project was under way to link five public libraries and the Office of Public Library Services, then under the Department of Education, according to Tom Ploeg, DTAE's acting director for Public Library Services.

"In July 1993, we received notification that our proposal to link our office and Bartow, Chattooga, Grady, Screven-Jenkins counties and the Ocmulgee Regional Library in Eastman had been selected for funding under the State Distance Learning and Telecommunication Program," he says. "Generally, these were all rural library systems and most didn't have local Internet providers." This early link was successful and even allowed the connected libraries access to the database FirstSearch. The public library community quickly saw the benefits of joining efforts with the academic librarians, says Ploeg.

GALILEO's 23 core databases include thousands of sources and provide information on topics ranging from business to medicine to government publications. For example, ABI/Inform has abstracts of articles from nearly 1,000 business and management journals; full text of about 25O of the journals is available.

Census data, Georgia government publications, current state laws and Georgia Secretary of State records also are available on GALILEO. Plans are under way to make additional documents accessible.

Without GALILEO, database access would be too expensive for most libraries. "Back in 1992 we subscribed to Periodical Abstracts and it only cost about $1,600," Auwarter says. "However, that was only abstracts, not full text, The Periodical Abstracts database we receive [now] through GALILEO has 635 full-text journals dating back to 1993 and abstracts dating back to 1988. It would cost more than $18,000 annually for Athens - Clarke [County] to have that access." Now, each library pays a mere $125 annually for each computer with GALILEO access beyond the three provided by the state.

Roger Slater, assistant commissioner for the Office of Public Libraries, Planning and Technology, has used GALILEO to track legislation as it travels through the Georgia General Assembly. However, he points out that just as there is more to a library than books, there is more to GALILEO than the databases.

"We tend to think only about the databases, but GALILEO is actually an umbrella term for a variety of activities," he says. "We're also providing access to web -based instruction and materials through the Internet. Already, a number of our technical schools are using the Internet to deliver instruction. Using the Internet increases our patrons' flexibility and access to education. They can control their time. A single parent, for example, isn't locked into our libraries' hours for accessing information."

The Internet makes distance learning possible through GSAMS (Georgia Statewide Academic and Medical System), the most comprehensive distance learning and healthcare network in the world. Georgia Online Database (GOLD) facilitates interlibrary loan of books and other resources from any library in the state. And for those without Internet access, the public library is a place for sending and receiving e-mail.

Peggy Johnson, assistant director of the Elbert County Library, says GALILEO offers an easy and comfortable way to help patrons. "GALILEO is my favorite place to go," she explains. "I'm not a big fan of computers, but GALILEO is so handy for finding magazine articles and other information. It has helped us a lot out here in the trenches where we can't afford to have huge amounts of reference materials."

Those involved with GALILEO credit its rapid and broad-based success to the cooperative working relationship between the various individuals and organizations.

"Getting the [next] 101 sites connected is a massive, massive undertaking. I can't tell you how many folks are involved from all the cooperating and contracting agencies," Ploeg says. "Of any state exploring an arrangement like GALILEO, we probably have the broadest-based group of people and organizations involved."

Georgia leads the nation in development of its statewide library. Other states are looking to GALILEO as a model.

Denise H. Horton is a free-lance writer in Athens, Georgia

[For a look at GALILEO, click on the icon below]