****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** A LL A W W OO NN NN A A LL A A W W OO OO NNN NN A A LL A A W W W O O NN N NN A A A A LL A A A A W W W O O NN N NN A A LL A A W W W OO OO NN NNN A A LLLLLLLLLL A A W W OO NN NN ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 1, Number 3 July 27, 1992 In this issue: (246 lines) NCLIS OPEN FORUM ON LIBRARIES AND THE NREN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FEE-FOR-SERVICE HEARING GPO GATEWAY/WINDO HEARING ALA INCLUDED AT SENATE APPROPRIATIONS HEARING HOUSE PANEL CUTS LIBRARY FUNDING BY 1 PERCENT HEARINGS THIS WEEK *************************************************************************** NCLIS OPEN FORUM ON LIBRARIES AND THE NREN The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) held an open forum on libraries and the NREN on July 20 and 21. According to Michael Farrell, Chair of NCLIS and moderator of the forum, NCLIS hopes to have a summary of the oral and written testimony available by late September. Nineteen witnesses presented testimony. Speaking on behalf of ALA was Elaine Albright, Dean of Cultural Affairs and Libraries at the University of Maine. She stressed the crucial nature of funding sources that fostered the early development stages of NSFNET and the Internet and said they "will be needed for quite a while, not only for technological research and development for the high-capacity network itself, but for applications and ease of use." She cited the need for low-cost user- friendly access to the network for libraries and schools in every part of the country, called for an increase in library representation in the advisory structure for the NREN, and said that affordable costs for Internet/NREN connections are essential for the libraries of tomorrow, particularly for those in rural or remote locations. Dan Mulhollan, Acting Deputy Librarian of Congress, said that LC was beginning to use the Internet for cooperative cataloging. He also said that over 12,000 people had accessed the portions of the Soviet documents exhibit that the library had made available via FTP. Jack Sulzer, speaking for GODORT, discussed the role that the nation's 1400 depository libraries could play in the development of the NREN. Paul Evan Peters of the Coalition for Networked Information discussed the questions of copyright and security. Patricia Wand, ACRL, recommended that the NREN governing board be nonpartisan and independent, and said that the library and education communities, including the Department of Education, must have a voice in NREN development. Other witnesses included Maurice Travillian, MD State Dept. of Education; Taylor Walsh, CapAccess; Joe Shubert, State Librarian of NY; Richard Dougherty, Univ of MI SLIS; Kitty Scott and Hope Tillman, SLA; Marc Rotenberg and Richard Civille, CPSR; Howard McGinn, COSLA; Robert Drescher, CLASS; George Brett, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina; Bruce Park, GEAC; Carol Risher, AAP; and Duane Webster, Association of Research Libraries. *************************************************************************** LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FEE-FOR-SERVICE HEARING On July 22, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing on S. 2748, the Library of Congress Fund Act of 1992. In his opening statement, Sen. Pell (D-RI) said that he was "dismayed to find that there still are apparently significant unresolved issues... I regret that once more we have a bill before this committee that does not have a broad consensus of support." James Billington, Librarian of Congress, said that the bill was needed to permit LC to meet the needs for specialized products and services which go beyond the Library's tax-supported basic functions. He addressed the concerns of the library community, saying that the definition of "core services" would not be frozen in time, that not all new technology-based services would be fee-based, and that S. 2748 would not affect LC's participation in the Depository Library Program. He also addressed the concerns of the private information industry, saying that LC would not be in unfair competition with the private sector and that LC would not change the copyright law. Patricia Glass Schuman, immmediate Past President of ALA, said that although LC does need to update its statutes, the legislation still had language which could impede the American public's right to know. Areas of concern that remain, according to Schuman, are inclusion of "electronic access to the contents of the collections" within the specialized full- cost-recovery category, which then creates problems with the difference between core and fee-based services, as well as how depository library requirements will be interpreted. Other problems are the inclusion of both direct and indirect costs of distribution, and the broad list of distribution cost elements in the legislation. Others providing testimony at the hearing included Nicholas Veliotes, AAP; Kenneth Allen, IIA; Peter Ward, Ward & Associates; Michael Farrell, NCLIS; David Penniman, CLR; Lee Anne George, George Washington University Library; and Barbara Markuson, Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority. Veliotes, Allen, and Ward said that the bill would permit LC to compete unfairly with the private sector; George described the fee-based services in her library and said that the bill would improve LC's ability to disseminate information. *************************************************************************** GPO GATEWAY/WINDO HEARING On July 23, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on House Administration held a joint hearing on S. 2813, the GPO Gateway to Government Act and HR 2772, the GPO WINDO Act. Among those testifying was Patricia Glass Schuman. Schuman said that although new technology provides unprecedented opportunities to increase public access to government information, without an electronic gateway like the one proposed in the legislation, "people without equipment, financial resources, or expertise will find some government information too expensive or difficult to access and use." Urging speedy passage of the two bills, Schuman stated "We will not live in a true information society unless--and until--we ensure that people have affordable public access to government information." She said that public policy makers must recognize that "an informed citizenry is a public good that benefits us all." Also speaking in favor of the bill were Rep. Major R. Owens (D-NY); James A. Nelson, State Librarian of Kentucky; and Penny Loeb, a reporter at New York Newsday. Public Printer Robert Houk said that the Government Printing Office was supporting the bill and that "the GPO Gateway/WINDO service clearly is an idea whose time has come." He concluded his statement by saying "I appreciate the confidence expressed by the sponsors of this legislation in GPO's capability to carry out this mission, and I look forward to working further with them to make the GPO Gateway/WINDO a reality." Speaking in opposition to the bills was Steve Metalitz of the Information Industry Association, who argued that the bills would unnecessarily duplicate information products and services already available from other sources, public and private. Also testifying at the hearing were Brian Kahin, Information Infrastructure Project, Harvard University, and William Graves, Office of Information Technology, UNC-Chapel Hill. *************************************************************************** ALA INCLUDED AT SENATE APPROPRIATIONS HEARING On July 22, ALA Washington Office Director Eileen Cooke testified on library programs in the FY 1993 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations Bill, before the Senate Appropriations L-HHS-Ed and Related Agencies subcommittee. Cooke spoke to the need for federal library funding, especially at a time when libraries are suffering across the country. She said the cut in library programs proposed by the President's FY93 budget "is simply not in the national interest." She also explained the need for advance appropriations for the Library Services and Construction Act. (See May, 1992 ALA Washington Newsletter). Senator Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the subcommittee stated "I find it a little more than ironic that the President's request cuts library programs while it funds literacy." Harkin remarked during the hearing that the subcommittee did not get the allocation needed "to fund these programs at the level we would like," and that he would be offering an amendment on the Senate floor to transfer money from Defense appropriations. ALA was one of 300 organizations that requested to submit testimony, and one of 150 permitted to do so. *************************************************************************** HOUSE PANEL CUTS LIBRARY FUNDING BY 1 PERCENT The House Appropriations Committee on July 23 approved a measure which would cut Department of Education library programs by 1 percent from current levels. The only library program recommended for an increase was the HEA VI, section 607 foreign periodicals program, which would have been at $1 million (a doubling of current funding) before the 1 percent cut. The 1 percent cut was applied to all education programs, and to almost all programs in the entire L-HHS-ED Appropriations Bill for FY 1993, because of the severe budget restrictions imposed by the Budget Enforcement Act. The next step for HR 5677 is House floor action. Amounts for library and related programs in HR 5677 are as follows: PROGRAM (amounts in thousands) FY 1992 FY93 ADMIN. FY 1993 APPROP. REQUEST HSE.COM. LIBRARY SERVICES & CONSTRUCTION ACT $129,663 $ 35,000 $128,366 Title I, public library services 83,898 35,000 83,059 II, pub. lib. construction 16,718 0 16,551 III, interlibrary cooperation 19,908 0 19,709 IV, Indian library services * * V, foreign language materials 976 0 966 VI, library literacy programs 8,163 0 8,081 HIGHER EDUCATION ACT 18,084 0 18,398 Title II-B, library career training 5,000 0 4,950 II-B, research & demonstrations 325 0 322 II-C, research libraries 5,855 0 5,796 II-D, college library tech. 6,404 0 6,340 VI sec 607, foreign periodicals 500 0 990 ESEA Chapter 2 school block grant 474,600 465,220 466,191 Natl. Center for Educ. Statistics 77,213 128,400 92,565 NCLIS 831 1,000 590 WHCLIS 0 0 400 National Library of Medicine 103,323 108,662 105,024 (incl. Medical Lib. Asst. Act) The Appropriations Committee reduced funds for NCLIS in order to offset funds required to liquidate the obligations incurred by the White House Conference on Library and Information Services that were spent in excess of the appropriation. President Bush recently requested a supplemental appropriation of $400,000 to cover the overspending by the WHCLIS. The Committee chose not to include this amount in a pending supplemental funding bill, but to handle it by reducing the NCLIS funding instead. *************************************************************************** HEARINGS THIS WEEK SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Subcommittee on Communications. Hearing to examine the uses of telecommunication technologies in education. Wednesday, July 29, 9:30 am, SR-253. SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks. Hearing on S. 1581, the Technology Transfer Improvement Act of 1991, allow Federal agencies to secure copyright in computer software prepared by U.S. employees under a cooperative research and development agreement, and to grant licenses or assignments for the copyrights. Tuesday, July 28, 10:00 am, SD-226. SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES. Hearing on proposed legislation providing comprehensive education, health and social services for America's youth. Tuesday, July 28, 10:00 am, SD-430. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance. Hearing on H.R. 5082, the Telecommunications Act of 1992. Wednesday, July 29, 9:30 am, room to be announced. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. 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