Britannica Scrambles to Reopen Popular Web Site

Almost two weeks after the venerable Encyclopaedia Britannica made a brief online debut, the site has yet to reopen its virtual pages to visitors.

The Chicago-based company announced that on Oct. 20 it would make available for free on its Web site (https://www.britannica.com) the contents of its 32-volume encyclopedia. But the site screeched to a halt when hungry knowledge seekers signed on in droves during the first free research day.

The financially ailing, 231-year-old firm has staked its future on the site, which was one of the first encyclopedias on the Internet but was not the focus of Britannica’s efforts until recently. The company previously had charged $5 a month for a subscription to the online encyclopedia.

Britannica, whose sales peaked at $650 million in 1989 through door-to-door sales and library and school orders, hopes its online venture will bolster revenue, which has fallen markedly in the face of competing digital encyclopedias.

Interest in the site caught executives by surprise. In a letter posted on the site’s home page, Britannica.com’s Chief Executive Don Yannias said the site should be unveiled again sometime this week.

“We’re literally working 24 hours a day,” said Jorge Cauz, senior vice president of marketing at Britannica.com. “In the short term, we’re focusing on adding capacity via hardware and studying different alternatives for software.”

It takes a while to work the kinks out of the complicated, robust network required to handle searches of large databases on the site, Cauz said. The site also includes information gleaned from 75 magazines and a Books in Print database.

Encyclopaedia Britannica isn’t the only venture haunted by system failures. America Online suffered outages after it started selling its service for a flat monthly fee. Many online brokers have had system breakdowns on busy trading days.

Times staff writer Jennifer Oldham can be reached at jennifer.oldham@latimes.com.