POMONA, Calif., November 4, 1996 --Public school students in Texas now have access to commercial reference material published by Pierian Press through the same online Internet service that school libraries are using to share catalog information.

The Texas Library Connection (TLC), a library consortium created by the Texas Education Agency to capitalize on World Wide Web technology, has expanded its information services with Auto-Graphics Inc. to include access to commercial databases.

Earlier in 1996, Auto-Graphics completed network installation on behalf of 1,100 Texas school libraries serving 3.6 million students from kindergarten through high school. Under that program Auto-Graphics' Impact/ONLINE services enabled students in any school to view the holdings of all schools on a library search terminal and initiate inter-library loan requests for materials at other locations.

With the addition of Auto-Graphics' Impact/ACCESSä module, students anywhere in the system gain immediate online access to reference materials that previously may have been available at selected libraries only. From Pierian Press, a 27-year-old publisher of databases and journals, this includes seven reference services:

• A Matter of Fact contains approximately 80,000 full-text statistical statements on current social, economic, political, health and environmental public policy issues.
• FirstBase is an enhanced abstracting service for children in grades K-6, covering the 35 best periodicals for this age group.
• Consumers Index provides access to more than 90,000 evaluations, tests, alerts, warnings and recalls of specific products, services and facilities and 60,000 articles on consumer topics covered in about 120 periodicals and government agency web sites.
• The Directory of National Helplines provides access to information, reliable advice and timely services available nationally to persons who are encountering special needs and/or personal crises.
• Media Review Digest is a standard catalog of media information about approximately 55,000 films, videos, and other media items and more than 10,000 reviews, evaluations, awards, and prizes related to them.
• StoryTime is a growing collection of stories, tales and fables from all ages and cultures.
• PowerFacts are extracted from the Matter of Fact database and simplified for use by students in grades 2-8.

Many of these databases feature Web links to virtual full text.

Access to the commercial databases via the Internet is made possible by an arrangement between Auto-Graphics and Pierian Press. Auto-Graphics is continuing to negotiate similar agreements with other publishers.

Company Information

Founded in 1950, Auto-Graphics, Inc. (OTC:AUGR) has capitalized on new technology as it becomes available, providing information publishing and database resource sharing systems to the publishing and library communities.