****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 2, Number 19 May 18, 1993 In this issue: (169 lines) THIRD HEARING HELD ON BOUCHER NETWORKING APPLICATIONS BILL NEH APPROPRIATIONS HEARINGS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GRANTS AVAILABLE *************************************************************************** THIRD HEARING HELD ON BOUCHER NETWORKING APPLICATIONS BILL On May 11, the Science Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held the third in a series of hearings on HR 1757, the High Performance Computing and High Speed Networking Applications Act of 1993. Testifying were Donald Lindberg, Director, National Coordinating Office for High Performance Computing and Communications; Malvin Kalos, Cornell Theory Center; Jeff Kalb, MasPar Computer Corporation; Edward Masi, Supercomputer System Division, Intel Corporation; Frederick Weingarten, Computing Research Association (substituting for Edward Lazowska); David Herron, Lilly Research Laboratories; and John Gage, Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Inc. Before the witnesses began their testimony, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) questioned the role the U.S. government should play in the implementation of the High Performance Computing Act. With a national debt of $4 trillion, where was the additional funding coming from? HR 1757 would also expand the federal bureaucracy, which his constituents did not want, and would result in the government competing with the private sector. All the witnesses supported the application areas in the bill, though all expressed concern about the 18-month schedule for separating the test bed network from other network uses. Gage's written testimony opposed the implementation of the Clipper chip data encryption system. The role that the government should play was addressed by several witnesses. Weingarten said that the phenomenal advances in high performance computing and communications have been the result of an effective partnership between government, industry, and academia. The question was not whether government should be involved in computing research, it was whether government would back out or go forward. Masi said that federal support had assured U.S. leadership in the field of high performance computing, and Kalb stressed that federal funding would accelerate research in the field. Lindberg described the Administration's High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program. The program has recently added an Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications (IITA) component to focus on developing infrastructure technology and applications to demonstrate prototype solutions to applications that require advanced computing and network communications. A major achievement of HPCC, said Lindberg, was the size, complexity and reliability of the NREN/Internet. "Two years ago the number of users of the present data network, Internet, was estimated at about 100,000. Today there are more than one and a half million computers on the Internet and almost 10,000 networks -- by some estimates, as many as 15 million people capable in many instances of sending and receiving data streams of 45 megabits per second. About 1,000 universities and colleges are attached to and using Internet, and about the same number of high schools. Today, there is also an emphasis on connecting community colleges and hospitals, and on further experiments to determine the best way to attach local school systems." Another major accomplishment is that there is one high performance network project within the Federal government, rather than six or seven. *************************************************************************** NEH APPROPRIATIONS HEARINGS On May 10, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies held hearings on the National Endowment for the Humanities. On May 12, the subcommittee heard from public witnesses for NEH, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum Services. Chairman Sidney Yates (D-IL) asked NEH Acting Chairman Donald Gibson whether the Humanities programs had anything comparable to the Charles Kurault television program featuring the Ying Quartet, whose members live and perform in communities in rural Iowa. Staff members assured Yates that library humanities programs such as "Voices and Visions," administered by ALA, reached rural areas including one town in Arizona with a population of 33. Also cited was a current grant administered by the Modern Poetry Association being conducted in libraries in 18 states. Yates expressed concern about the state of libraries in general, saying that they were being forced to close for lack of funds and wondering what could be done. He said that as a child, he and a friend had gone to the library almost every day and been enriched by the materials they found there. Yates said that the NEH challenge grants program was of enormous help to institutions. Testifying on May 12 were panels as diverse as high school students from Arena Stage's Living Stage Theatre program, the Ying Quartet, musicians from Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and actress Celeste Holm, speaking on behalf of NEA, and folklife specialists, students, scholars, conservators, producers and writers for public television testifying for NEH. Syracuse University Librarian David Stam testified on behalf of the Association of Research Libraries, the Commission on Preservation and Access, and the National Humanities Alliance. He stressed the great results that had been achieved in the first five years of the twenty-year preservation program, and the need for continued support at fully-funded levels for the operational phase of the twenty-year plan. Joseph Parisi, editor of _Poetry_ magazine, spoke on behalf of humanities programs in libraries. He cited an ALA estimate that "over the last decade the reading and discussion programs alone have reached over 4 million people." Parisi described his participation in a "Poets in Person" program held in Washburn, Wisconsin, which so involved the participants that they were eventually ejected from the library by the janitor, who closed the building. Discussion then continued on the steps outside the library. According to Yates, there will be no large expansion of programs since the 602(b) allocations, the totals allotted to each appropriations subcommittee, are very limited for FY94. *************************************************************************** DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GRANTS AVAILABLE The Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture is requesting grant proposals from non-profit institutions to establish and operate centers for rural technology or cooperative development. Centers established by the program must serve rural areas in the United States by creating job opportunities, strengthening existing rural businesses, and demonstrating innovative methods to deliver services. Centers can offer a variety of programs, including programs for the collection, interpretation, and dissemination of principles, facts, technical knowledge, new technology, or other information that may be useful to rural industries; programs providing technical assistance and advisory services to develop and commercialize new products, processes, or services; and programs providing research and support to individuals and businesses to develop new agricultural enterprises to add value to on-farm production through processing or marketing. Grants can vary in size from $50,000 to $960,000; $1,000,000 is available for the current year. The deadline for submitting applications is June 21, 1993. For further information, see the _Federal Register_, May 11, 1993, pp. 27910-13, or contact Dr. Ted Maher, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Extension Service, 14th & Independence Avenue SW, Room 3901-South Building, Washington, DC 20250-0900, phone 202-720-7185, TDD 800-877-8339 or 202-708-9300). *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363; Internet: alawash@alawash.org. Editor and List Owner: Fred King (fdk@alawash.org). 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 listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (internet). 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