According to Bartleby.com founder and CEO Steven van Leeuwen, the Bartleby Project offers “the most comprehensive public reference library ever published on the web” (Bartleby.com, 2000, par. 4). The Bartleby Project, whose name comes from Melville's classic Bartleby story, the Scrivener, began as a personal research experiment at Columbia University in which van Leeuwen sought to combine his knowledge of information systems with his love of books to create accessible and searchable electronic systems. versions of classical literature and reference works. The first book published on the site was Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass in 1994. Following this success, van Leeuwen continued to develop the project privately, becoming Bartleby.com in 1997 and continuing to expand into the impressive collection of references and classical and modern works. of the literature that is today (Hane, 2000). Upon first visiting the site, the user is impressed by the simple and friendly layout. The collection is divided into References, Verses, Fiction and Non-Fiction. Users can click on the drop-down menus or tabs for each category to go directly to the title of the work they are looking for. Additionally, each menu or tab is divided into subcategories so users can easily locate similar formats or topics. Works can also be found via keyword searches for author, subject or title, or you can browse "featured" selections that are updated frequently on the home page. You can search the content of each title in the collection by keyword to find specific quotes or phrases that interest you within the work. In addition to the remarkably simplistic design, the collection itself provides access to a remarkable breadth and depth of both classic and contemporary......at the heart of the document......rare as proposed by the Technology Advisory Committee information from the President. While it doesn't offer any of the services of a traditional library such as reference help, etc., searchable full-text documents provide quick and easy access to information that once had to be tediously skimmed by hand. Anyone needing reference information or access to classic literature would be remiss not to use the resources of Bartleby.com. Works CitedBartleby.com (2000, March 20). Bartleby.com presents the Web's premier reference library. Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/sv/pr032000.htmlBartleby.com (2011). Facts in brief. Retrieved from http://www.bartelby.net/press/facts.htmlHane, P.J. (2003, April 3). Bartleby.com relaunches the site with modern and classic reference works. Information today. Retrieved from http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbreader.asp?ArticleID=17824