Dear cni-announce subscribers
Attached is information on how you, or someone you know, ca
participate in a new Internet discussion forum devoted to
the Government Information Locator Service (GILS) that is
being developed under the auspices of the Information Policy
Committee of the Clinton Administration's Information Infra-
structure Task Force
Best,

Paul

Paul Evan Peters
Executive Director
Coalition for Networked Informatio
21 Dupont Circle
Washington, DC 20036
Voice:  202-296-5098
Fax:  202-872-0884
Internet:  paul@cni.org


                     ANNOUNCING A DISCUSSION FORUM FOR THE
                 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION LOCATOR SERVICE (GILS)

     The Government Information Locator Service (GILS) is a Federal
initiative to enable users to identify, locate, and access or acquire
publicly available Federal information resources, including electronic
information resources.  GILS uses ANSI/NISO Z39.50, the American
National Standard for information retrieval, and other relevant standards
to support the deployment of Federal agency-based, Internet-accessible
locators.  These locators provide users with descriptive, location, and
access information for a wide range of Federal government information
resources
ABOUT THE GILS FORUM:

     The GILS Forum is a public, moderated computer forum open to
anyone interested in discussing development, implementation
deployment, policy, and technical issues surrounding the Governmen
Information Locator Service (GILS) initiative.  The GILS Forum provides
the opportunity for United States and other government and
non-government organizations' staff, state and local government
agencies, Z39.50 implementors, librarians, information service providers,
public interest groups, the general public, and others to participate in
discussions related to the GILS.  The GILS Forum will also announce and
provide electronic access to documents related to the GILS initiative.

     The GILS architecture is an application to identify and locate
information resources in a variety of networked information environments,
and the broad scope of the discussion on the GILS Forum may includ
topics such as the use of GILS in an international context, the technical
implementation details of GILS, the creation of GILS records,
development of generalized Uniform Resource Identifiers, and the use of
ANSI/NISO Z39.50 in the GILS.  In addition, the GILS Forum provides a
point of contact for vendors who are developing GILS products an
services and potential users of these products and services.


TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE GILS FORUM:

To join the electronic GILS Forum please send a SUBSCRIBE comman
(as an e-mail note) to the address LISTPROC@CNI.ORG

     subscribe <listname> <your real name> 

     e.g. SUBSCRIBE GILS John Doe


TO SEND MAIL TO THE GILS FORUM:

To participate in the list discussions, please send your mail to:

     GILS@CNI.ORG

TO LEAVE THE GILS FORUM:

If you are a subscriber of the GILS Forum, and you wish to leave the
forum, please send either an UNSUBSCRIBE or a SIGNOFF command
(as an e-mail note) to the address LISTPROC@CNI.ORG

     unsubscribe <listname>        or        signoff <listname
     e.g. UNSUBSCRIBE GILS                   SIGNOFF GILS

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE GILS FORUM
     All questions regarding the substance of, or policies related to, the
discussions on this forum should be sent to:

     William E. Moen
     Research Associate and GILS Forum Moderato
     School of Information Studie
     4-206 Center for Science and Technology
     Syracuse University
     Syracuse, NY  13244
          (315) 445-0015/443-4508
          Internet:  wemoen@mailbox.syr.edu
and queries regarding difficulties with mail or requests for technical
assistance should be sent to the Coalition's Systems Coorindator:

     Craig A. Summerhill
     Systems Coordinator and Program Officer
     Coalition for Networked Information
     21 Dupont Circle, N.W.
     Washington, D.C.   20036
          (202) 296-509
          Internet:  craig@cni.org