Libraries are not just for books anymore. Today's libraries have kept pace with new technologies to provide a host of services to meet the public's growing demand for learning and affordable entertainment.

Media including CD-ROM, audio books, video cassettes, magazines and the customary printed materials give library card holders many titles in various formats from which to choose.

Now, through electronic card catalogues, most of these wonderful items can be searched, and, barring any licensing restrictions, reserved, loaned or renewed via your home PC. All you need is a computer, a modem and a library card.

There are four major methods of accessing a library's electronic card catalogue. The first and simplest way is direct dialing into the library system through your computer's modem. No online service is required for this, although long distance telephone charges may apply, depending on the phone number the library uses, naturally.

The second version is through a software program that comes standard with most computer installation packages. It is called Telnet, and it provides the means to connect to and interact with another computer using standard Internet protocols.

Once you find Telnet files on your computer, simply open the Install.Exe. file and it should install automatically. Follow the Read.me file for further instructions. Or visit the AOL site found at keyword TELNET.

Another version of this software is Java-based Telnet. It achieves the same result, however, it eliminates the need to install or configure Telnet software. Your browser must be Java-enabled for it to work (all recent versions of Microsoft Explorer and Netscape browsers are Java-enabled).

The fourth means of access is called WebPac. It is server software that enables library patrons to use web browsers as the public client to search library card catalogues found on the Internet. However, some libraries do not provide access to their catalogues via this method.

WebPac operates much like most web search engines, and because it is not a remote hookup (such as Telnet), it is more efficient.

Why Telnet when you have WebPac? Because most on-line library catalogues are still supported by Telnet. In fact, Telnet predates the World Wide Web and that is why many people don't know about it.

Accessing the electronic catalogues via your home computer will save you much time. My library allows me to put holds on materials that are out on loan. When it becomes available, an automated voice response unit calls to notify me.

I can also have items transferred from one library to another, as long as both libraries belong to the same system. Otherwise, it is considered an inter-library loan. There tend to be more borrowing limitations on these materials.

Another important guideline is that I can renew, up to three times, a book or item that I have in my possession already, as long as nobody else is requesting it, too.

The list of public libraries that can be accessed online is quite extensive. A good place to locate your local library's web site is Libweb. At Libweb, or Library WWW Servers, you will find a listing of over 2,500 pages from libraries in more than 70 countries.

Among the libraries on the list are academic, state, regional, public and a fourth category called special and school libraries, which lists special interest libraries such as law, sports, environmental, mechanics and engineering libraries, to name just a few.

Through the exhaustive listings at Libweb, you should be able to find the link to your local library's home page. Internet-based libraries are also popular. And, of course, they require no library card.

One great source for comprehensive, catalogued listings of materials is the Internet Public Library. Each item in the Internet Public Library collections has been carefully selected, catalogued and described by a member of the IPL staff.

This means you can be assured of the quality of the resources that you will find within this Internet library. Through the Internet Public Library, library netizens can search online text materials , serials and magazines and browse the newspaper collection . The IPL site features a "web page of the moment" which changes from day to day, and reflects the current events of the world. It also features a resource of the week. Click on Reference from the IPL home page to visit the virtual library's reference desk.

Included among the menu of some eclectic and other not-so-eclectic materials, you will find: Online Literary Criticism Collection and see 1,566 critical and biographical web sites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title or by literary period.

Another excellent resource is Associations on the Net, where you can browse an annotated guide to more than 1,100 associations and organizations listed on the Internet.

The home page of the American Library Association is a great source of special programs and promotions that the organization sponsors for libraries throughout the United States.

This site also features other facts related to the American Library Association, and can serve as a great starting point for many other library resources, too.

Among these is one site that serves as a thorough index to databases and sites, categorized by topic that is so thorough it really leaves no room for the imagination. The brief descriptions provided under each link are excellent for easy perusing.

The State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has a Library Resource list that will be great place for you to start a reference search. Once on this website, choose "Reference Resources."

By the way, you can also reach this point through the American Library Association's home page . Once on the ALA home page, click on "ALA's Library, " then "Links to Library Web Resources," then "The Library Resource List." From there, choose "Reference Resources." Congratulations, you made it!

I will highlight some of my favorite sites below:

Atlapedia Online contains full-color political and physical maps as well as facts and statistics of countries around the world. This site includes data on geography (of course), climate, people, religion, language, history and economy.

AJR Newslink , is the home page of the American Journalism Review. Among its pages you will find more than 5,000 newspapers and magazines from around the world.

This is the place to come if you are searching for that elusive article published by a small university or literary press. Or simply to browse headlines around the world. Radio and television broadcast information is also listed here.

Acronym Finder lists more than 65,000 acronyms and their meanings, with an emphasis on computers, technology, the military and telecommunications.

Using this exhaustive list, found under Reference Resources, virtual library patrons have tools at their fingertips that were unimaginable a few years back.

The Quotations Page provides access to over 10 different quotation databases and other related links. You can select a Quote of the Day or Quote of the Week, and even contribute a motivational quotation of your own.

Oh, I forgot to mention another site I use for fast fact-checking. Unbelievably, this site is not found among the index mentioned above. Well, I guess you can't have everything.

It is at the Information Please Home Page, where the information is organized under 11 different topic areas they call almanacs. Strangely enough, this company sprung from a long-running quiz show by the same name (Information Please) that ran from 1938-1952.

The same unparalleled curiosity for myriad facts and statistics that we library hounds experience is what led to the Information Please's expansive line of almanacs.

This site is supported by a staff that works judiciously to keep the information authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date. Among the useful pieces of information found here are postal rates, vital statistics, tax information, weather-related facts and much more.

Happy hunting!