Not long ago, UCLA Library users considered the online journal a novelty of the tech age. Today, digital information in all forms has come of age. You can listen to music, view materials from special collections and have a librarian walk you through a search session, all from the comfort of your own computer.

"The technologies that really take off are those that bring people closer, that enhance communication and collaboration," noted Terry Ryan, associate university librarian for information technology.

For example, meet the Online Librarian.

Real-time reference assistance is now available over the Internet. Recently launched as a pilot project, this service uses chat and shared browsing so that users can type in questions and then wait for answers while UCLA librarians perform searches in a variety of databases.

Remember the old days when using materials on reserve meant a visit to the library? No longer necessary.

Real-time reference assistance: www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college Click on "Ask an online librarian"

"Electronic reserves meet students' needswhere and when they need us, which is on the Web and, frequently, in the middle of the night," said Eleanor Mitchell, head of College Library. College Library electronic reserves now can include online journals, Web sites and scanned articles as well as faculty-produced materials like homework solutions, examinations and course notes. Digital audio reserves at the Music Library enable students to listen to music assignments online from wherever they have Internet access.

Rare and unique texts and images were once available only at one location in the library. But digitization is making them more widely accessible. For example, brand-new to the Web are some very old images: stunning colored engravings of countries around the world from the "Blaeu Atlas," first published in 1645 in Amsterdam.

Closer to home, selections from the Thelner and Louise Hoover Collection are going digital. Thelner began his lifelong visual record of UCLA as a Daily Bruin photographer and his images show the campus throughout its early years.

And for the future?

"People are increasingly creating things that are 'born digital,' " Ryan said. "That's really going to mushroom and will have a major impact on how libraries collect and provide information."