Because the Regional Learning Alliance is a unique educational institution in southwestern Pennsylvania, it seems appropriate that it would have a nontraditional library.

The 2-year-old consortium has received more than $167,000 from Pittsburgh's Buhl Foundation to develop a virtual library for its students. The electronic-information system also benefits the people who take part in special courses, conferences and seminars on its North Hills campus.

Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette The Regional Learning Alliance has established a virtual library in the form of 14 computers available in its common areas to more easily access the library resources of the alliance's 12 partner schools and the Internet. The virtual library was created with a $167,175 grant from the Buhl Foundation. A public open house will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 14. Click photo for larger image.

The Regional Learning Alliance, a joint project of a dozen colleges and technical schools, is south of the Cranberry boundary in Marshall. Slippery Rock University is the lead partner in the effort.

The Buhl grant has been used to provide 14 computers, network printers, library cards and a plasma-screen "media wall." The computers give students and seminar participants a convenient way to link up to their school or community libraries. Students taking any of 50 classes offered by member institutions in alliance classrooms also can receive free cards for the nearby Cranberry Public Library.

About 550 students attend classes at the alliance each semester. About 90,000 people, representing more than 250 companies and associations, have visited the campus, spokeswoman Sandra Fouch said.

"We are creating something here that doesn't have a model," said Philip Tramdack. He is Slippery Rock's library director and a member of the alliance's librarian committee. That group has representatives of each sponsoring institution.

When committee members began to meet during the summer of last year, they immediately knew they didn't want to create another bricks-and-mortar facility. They nevertheless realized that students still would need help from professional librarians with research projects and access to book collections and reliable reference works.

"You can't have higher education without libraries," Mr. Tramdack said. "The Internet is like a flea market. If you need a loaf of bread, you may find a stand there with excellent homemade bread. But you may not ... and you have no way of establishing the quality of what you find."

"Many alliance students are re-entering the education market after an absence of some years," he said. "I'm sitting in a building with half a million books, and we want Slippery Rock students to have new ways to access those materials from wherever they are."

A public or college library card also offers access to a powerful online source. The Pennsylvania Online World of Electronic Resources, or Power, Library provides the full text of articles in many reference books, magazines and professional journals.

The Pittsburgh-based Buhl Foundation has a history of support for libraries and for pioneering efforts to broaden the use of technology, according to its president, Dr. Doreen E. Boyce.

"We were interested in assisting a project that could break new ground and provide a model for other parts of the nation," she said. "We can take some risks on projects that might not be appropriate for support by the government or taxpayers."

The virtual library is one recent example of how the learning alliance is seeking to improve the educational experience for the part-time students who take classes there, Mr. Tramdack said. Those efforts will get another boost when a writing and research center, staffed by tutor Susan Stammera, opens shortly.

The newly installed media wall offers another electronic point of contact between students and the educational consortium.

Its four screens are mounted on the wall above the information desk in the building's atrium.

The system can display a mix of audio-visual programs and PowerPoint presentations, sometimes with several running simultaneously, according to Yvonne McAvoy, technology coordinator for the alliance.

"Our students may be watching football on one screen in the evening," she said. "News programs are popular in the morning, and we also can run job listings."

The media wall "is there to capitalize on a proven fact of human behavior," Mr. Tramdack joked. "If you have a television on, people will look at it."

The Web site for the Regional Learning Alliance is www.regionallearningalliance.com. The virtual library project is described under "updates" in the right column of the home page.

The alliance is planning an open house to show off its virtual library and other amenities early next year. No date has been set for the event.

If you already have a card issued by a Pennsylvania library, you can access the Power Library through the home pages of most local libraries.