  We consider systems of interacting spins and study the entanglement that can
be localized, on average, between two separated spins by performing local
measurements on the remaining spins. This concept of Localizable Entanglement
(LE) leads naturally to notions like entanglement length and entanglement
fluctuations. For both spin-1/2 and spin-1 systems we prove that the LE of a
pure quantum state can be lower bounded by connected correlation functions. We
further propose a scheme, based on matrix-product states and the Monte Carlo
method, to efficiently calculate the LE for quantum states of a large number of
spins. The virtues of LE are illustrated for various spin models. In
particular, characteristic features of a quantum phase transition such as a
diverging entanglement length can be observed. We also give examples for pure
quantum states exhibiting a diverging entanglement length but finite
correlation length. We have numerical evidence that the ground state of the
antiferromagnetic spin-1 Heisenberg chain can serve as a perfect quantum
channel. Furthermore, we apply the numerical method to mixed states and study
the entanglement as a function of temperature.
