NMAA Online is a part of Smithsonian Online on America Online. The Smithsonian
does not have an exclusive contract with America Online--quite the contrary.
We are investigating many avenues for the electronic dissemination of
information about the institution and its collections. Many Smithsonian images
(including photos of objects in the National Museum of American Art's
permanent collection) are already accessible on the Internet (photo1.si.edu).
Throughout the institution, staff members are hard at work planning for the
posting of more of our resources on the Internet (library catalogues, research
databases, etc.) Here at the National Museum of American Art, a museum wide
committee has been formed with this purpose in mind. By the same token, we are
also investigating other commercial networks.
 
We are aware of our many publics, and are trying not to exclude anyone as we
plan for the future. My earlier posting was a point of information and should
not be construed as an institutional decision to select one network to the
exclusion of others.
 
Joan Stahl, Coordinator Image Collections, National Museum of American Art
 
Joan Stahl, National Museum of American Art: Room 331,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560
(e-mail)[log in to unmask]  (voice) 202-357-1348