The function of astronomers is to capture and create information and send it into the future. The vehicle for this transmission of knowledge is the archive. Digital archives, or libraries, are transforming the very way we think.

Beginning with a brief historical perspective I will discuss how our archives are coming alive and merging into a whole which is greater than its parts. Now called the Virtual Observatory I will show the current status of its capabilities, with emphasis on the role the ADS plays.

As time permits I will conclude with a short tutorial on advanced uses of the ADS, including the Private Libraries, 2nd Order Operators, and myADS-arXiv.

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Michael Kurtz is an astronomer and computer scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which he joined after receiving a PhD in Physics from Dartmouth College in 1982.

Kurtz is the author or co-author of over 200 technical articles and abstracts on subjects ranging from cosmology and extra-galactic astronomy to data reduction and archiving techniques to information systems and text retrieval algorithms.

In 1988 Kurtz conceived what has now become the NASA Astrophysics Data System, the core of the digital library in astronomy, perhaps the most sophisticated discipline centered library extant. He has been associated with the project since that time, and was awarded the 2001 Van Biesbroeck Prize of the American Astronomical Society for his efforts.