Huntsville, AL (February 8, 1995) - It may be hard to believe that you can visit a library without leaving your home, but Huntsville, Alabama's SIRSI Corporation is showing Internet users it can be done. With their new World Wide Web home page, debuting February 8, the information automation company lets millions of Internet Mosaic users test drive SIRSI's new WebCAT server, the world's first software allowing full public access to library catalogs on the Internet. When WWW browsers drop in on the new SIRSI home page (http://www.sirsi.com), they'll be able to search a sample catalog of over a million titles. The catalog is full- text searchable, and includes cross references and hypertext links.

WebCat also provides Web users access to other library services, such as an information desk, request desk, and user status information.

"We're hoping to give everyone on the Internet a chance to understand the kind of potential the Web offers for our information-hungry society," said Jim Young, SIRSI CEO. "WebCat gives libraries the chance to bring the wealth of information and services they offer to the desktops of millions of people, with a client they already have and know how to use."

At SIRSI's Home Page, users will also find information on the newest developments in information automation, updates on industry standards and the state of progress towards the virtual library - the library on the desktop.

Additionally, they can find out about how SIRSI products, such as the UNICORN and STILAS UNIX-based client/server library automation systems and VIZION, a customizable contact manager for online information resources for PC users, are providing new ways to manage and access information.