Wednesday, October 20, 1999

Encyclopaedia Britannica Offers All Its Articles Free on Line By DAN CARNEVALE With unreliable information building up in every nook and cranny of the Internet, the Encyclopædia Britannica is trying to become the one source everyone turns to for "Our goal is really to be the most-trusted source of knowledge and learning." trustworthy information. The articles from the 32-volume work were slated to be available free today at Britannica.com, but the almost-instantaneous popularity of the service bogged down its servers. "We're kind of swamped by our own success," said Kent Devereaux, senior vice-president of product development and editorial for Britannica.com, on Wednesday. He added that the company was in the process of adding more servers. The company already has a subscription-based Web site that costs $50 a year for an individual account, a CD-ROM that costs $79, and the 32-volume set, which sells for $1,200. Mr. Devereaux said all these will be maintained while the company branches out to the consumer market with the free site, which is expected to be supported by advertisements, sponsorships, and e-commerce. (The subscription site will serve both individual users who don't want to see ads and university clients who incorporate the encyclopedia into customized information services.) "We want to open up the gates as wide as possible," said Mr. Devereaux. "Our goal is really to be the most-trusted source of knowledge and learning." The new site will also link to magazine articles, Web sites, and even books to buy on any subject that a user seeks information about -- a step taken to make the encyclopedia more consumer-oriented, Mr. Devereaux said. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article