****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 1, Number 6 August 11, 1992 In this issue: (219 lines) TIME TO SPEAK WITH REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ACT HEARING ON CENSUS BUREAU USER FEES LC BEGINS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NEWS SERVICE HEARINGS THIS WEEK *************************************************************************** TIME TO SPEAK WITH REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS Congress will be adjourned from August 13 until Labor Day. This is a good time to stop by the local offices of your Senators and Representatives to remind them of the importance of federal library funding, or to tell them about it at your county or state fair. The FY93 Labor HHS-Ed Appropriations bill, HR 5677, will be marked up in the Senate as soon as the Senate reconvenes after Labor Day. This is a year when the budget deficit looms large, actions are viewed in the glare of election year publicity, and things happen quickly. Please reiterate the importance of libraries to all our nation's people, from the youngest to the oldest. Invite your Senators and Representatives to visit your library and give them the message. *************************************************************************** INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY ACT Senator Albert Gore, Jr. (D-TN) introduced on July 1 an NREN applications bill as a follow-up to his High-Performance Computing Act which established the National Research and Education Network. S. 2937, the Information Infrastructure and Technology Act of 1992, would develop and deploy new applications of high-performance computing for K-12 education, manufacturing, health care, and digital libraries. A House companion measure was introduced August 4 by Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D-CA). See the July 1 _Congressional Record_, p. S9538-41, for the text and Gore's statement; August 4 (pp. E2358-59) for Brown's remarks. In explaining the new applications, Senator Gore said: For example, it will fund development of new ways to use high-speed networks to link high schools and elementary schools so that teachers and students can communicate with their colleagues around the country, access digital libraries of information, and consult with experts in colleges, universities, Federal labs, and companies....It will accelerate development of supercomputers, massive data bases, and the software needed to use them, so that even the most remote library can tap into more information than is stored in the entire Library of Congress. Generally, funds authorized in these bills (a total of $90 million the first year, increasing to $370 million the fifth year) would be used by sci/tech agencies under the jurisdiction of congressional science committees. Gore chairs a science subcommittee; Brown a full science committee. EDUCATION: The National Science Foundation would support pilot projects to connect K-12 schools to the Internet and the NREN to aid in development of the software, hardware, and training material needed to enable students and teachers to use networks for communication with peers around the country, with educators and students in colleges and universities, for teacher training, and to access databases of electronic information. MANUFACTURING: The Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology would establish an Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Networking Project. HEALTH CARE: The National Library of Medicine would support testbed networks for linking hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, medical schools, medical libraries, and universities to enable health care providers and researchers to share medical data and imagery; software, visualization, and virtual reality technologies; and database technology to provide health care providers with access to relevant medical information and literature. DIGITAL LIBRARIES: The National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration would develop technologies for digital libraries of electronic information, including advanced data storage systems capable of giving thousands of users nearly instantaneous access; high-speed systems for converting multimedia images into electronic form; database search and filter software; standards for electronic data; computer technology to organize electronic information; training of database users and librarians in the use of and development of electronic databases; technology to simplify use of networked databases; and visualization technology for quickly browsing large volumes of imagery. An additional associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy would be added to oversee federal efforts to disseminate sci/tech information. The bills are not likely to be acted on in the little time remaining in this election year session. They will come up again next year, however, and the ALA Washington Office would be interested in library community reaction to them. For instance, is there an NREN application area that would be of particular help to libraries? What is the library research agenda for the NREN? *************************************************************************** HEARING ON CENSUS BUREAU USER FEES On August 5th, the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service Subcommittee on Census and Population held a hearing to review current pricing policies at the Census Bureau. Testifying at the hearing were Barbara Everitt Bryant, Director of the Census Bureau; Ron Crouch, Kentucky State Data Center; Richard Rockwell, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research; Norman C. DeWeaver, Indian and Native American Employment and Training Coalition; Ayala Tamir, Asian American Health Forum; and Kenneth Hodges, Donnelley Marketing Information Services. In his opening statement, Rep. Sawyer (D-OH) said that the committee wanted to examine whether shortfalls in the Census Bureau's appropriation could be offset by increasing revenues through the sale of data products. He added that during the review they should keep in mind the principle that Americans should have access to their own government's information, regardless of their ability to pay for it, particularly when taxpayers not only finance the collection of data, but also supply the government with that information directly. The issue was not whether to implement fees, but whether the Bureau should charge more or less than it does now. Bryant described the types of data products and research services provided by the Bureau, and their costs and revenues. She estimated that the material provided by the Bureau without charge to Census Depository Libraries, State Data Centers, and Census Information Centers has a market value of $1.3 million per year. The printed census reports distributed by GPO produce $755,000, which is retained by GPO. The data tapes, CD-ROMs, and other materials sold by the Bureau are sold at prices set "at a rate sufficient to cover the actual cost of performing the copying, including direct costs such as salaries, travel and computer time, as well as indirect costs for space, administrative staff, overhead, and employee benefits" as directed by OMB Circulars A-25 and A-130. An additional $122 million came from contract research and customized services performed for other federal agencies, local governments, and other users. Regarding user fees, Bryant said that in order to raise additional revenue through price increases, the Bureau would have to copyright their products. Without copyright, if they raised prices, users would turn to secondary distributors for the information. Almost half of the purchasers of 1990 census summary data on tape and CD-ROM were local governments, librarians, public service organizations, colleges, and private citizens; librarians and minority organizations have said that even the current fees can limit their use of census information, since they make the data available to their patrons and members at little or no additional cost. She concluded by recommending that no changes be made to the present pricing structure. Other witnesses also argued against raising user fees. Crouch praised the Bureau's practice of providing data at no charge to state data centers and said that increased fees wolud adversely affect policy decisions and economic development. Rockwell questioned the fairness of charging for census data: "to ask the people to buy back at a high price something that they have given freely to the government seems unjust and imprudent to me." Hodges said that increased prices from the Bureau would make value-added products too expensive for some customers, and would force some companies out of the market. Sawyer asked if private companies would be willing to pay higher prices to get data earlier. Hodges replied that if one company did, the others would be forced to follow. Sawyer also asked if private companies would be willing to pay to have questions included, or pay to prevent questions from being excluded, from future census forms. Hodges replied that he doubted whether the industry would be willing. *************************************************************************** LC BEGINS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NEWS SERVICE Information about the Library of Congress, including programs, exhibits, activities, and hours of operation, is now available online. Beginning August 1, LC began operating the Library of Congress News Service, a bulletin board available to anyone with a computer and modem. The system offers information of interest to the press, to the public, and to librarians, as well as a monthly calendar of events and a listing of hours of operation of the Jefferson, Adams and Madison buildings. In the future, users will be able to download edited versions of stories and announcements from the LC _Information Bulletin_ approximately two weeks before they appear in print. The telephone number for accessing the News Service is 202-707-3854. For further information, contact Guy Lamolinara, Editor, Library of Congress News Service, Library of Congress Public Affairs Office, Washington, DC 20540. Phone: 202-707-9217. *************************************************************************** HEARINGS THIS WEEK This information has been taken from the _Congressional Record_ of August 7, 1992, and is subject to change. For further information about the hearings, contact the committee. COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration. Hearing on S. 893, to amend title 18, United States Code, to impose criminal sanctions for violation of software copyright. Wednesday, August 12, 10:00 am, B-352 Rayburn. COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY. Continued markup of HR 5231, National Competitiveness Act of 1992. Tuesday, August 11, 2:00 pm, 2318 Rayburn. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Editor and List Owner: Fred King. Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363; Bitnet: NU_ALAWASH@CUA All or part of ALAWON may be redistributed, with appropriate credits. ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to the Bitnet address listserv@uicvm. Back issues of ALAWON will be available soon. Instructions on how to retrieve them will be published in future issues. *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***