NEW YORK.- A large, rich treasury of images from the collections of The New York Public Library will be accessible free of charge over the Internet starting tomorrow via NYPL Digital Gallery, according to Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of the Library. "By opening the doors of our acclaimed collections to users over the Internet, we are plunging fully into an exciting new era of Library service," said Dr. LeClerc. "These visual materials, many of which are unique to the Library, will be available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection at any time, free of charge. We see new possibilities for exciting intellectual discoveries and accomplishments by scholars, researchers, and artists from remote locations who will be able to easily use our materials."NYPL Digital Gallery is accessible at digitalgallery.nypl.org.

The initial 275,000 items in the NYPL Digital Gallery were selected by curators from all divisions of The New York Public Library's four research libraries. Included in the searchable database are prints, illuminated manuscripts, photographs, maps, postcards, cigarette cards, menus, posters, and many other visual materials. "Whether it's a historian studying the Revolutionary War, a scenic designer researching old New York neighborhoods, or a fashion designer looking for inspiration in vintage clothing, the Digital Gallery will provide unparalleled resources and access," said David S. Ferriero, the Library's Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of The Research Libraries. "Within the next several months, we expect that the quantity of materials available will double to 500,000 items."

"Digital Gallery provides researchers with several avenues into this huge amount of content -- browsing by broad topics, collections, subject words, or names, and searching by keywords or identification number," said Barbara Taranto, Director of NYPL's Digital Library Program. Each item in the Gallery has been individually described with extensive metadata to accommodate precise searches. Once materials have been located, they can be viewed in three sizes and may be downloaded free of charge for personal use. Photographic prints of any images featured online may also be ordered, for a fee, from the Library's Photographic Services Department. The Library's Permissions Department arranges all use of NYPL images for publication, in film, on TV or the Internet.