****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 2, Number 28 June 29, 1993 In this issue: (280 lines) OMB CIRCULAR A-130 RELEASED HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ACTS ON LIBRARY FUNDING SENATE PASSES FY 93 SUPPLEMENTAL HOUSE PASSES POSTAL FUNDING BILL HOUSE-PASSED BILL INCLUDES NARA AND NHPRC FUNDING HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES NEH FUNDING HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES FUNDING FOR NTIA NII PROJECTS *************************************************************************** OMB CIRCULAR A-130 RELEASED The Clinton Administration has taken a major step to improve the federal government's policies and capabilities for making information available to the American public. On June 25, the Office of Management and Budget issued a revised OMB Circular A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources," that incorporates new policies for managing government information that encourage agencies to use electronic technologies to improve public access. Sally Katzen, Administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said that the revisions of OMB Circular A-130 "will help bring the Federal government information into the information age. This is a major step toward realizing the vision of a government that uses technology better to communicate with the American people." The new Circular emphasizes integrated management of information dissemination products. Agency electronic information products, whether computer tapes, CD-ROMs, or online services, will fall under the same policy umbrella as printed publications or audiovisual materials. The circular asks agencies to develop and maintain indexes and other tools to make it easier for the public to locate government information. The circular provides that, generally, the federal government should recoup only those costs associated with the dissemination of information, and not those associated with its creation or collection. Similarly, it provides that agencies should not attempt to restrict the secondary uses of their information products. Of particular interest to librarians and those who use government information in federal depository libraries is OMB's change in their restrictive interpretation of the definition of "government publication" in OMB's April 1992 draft of OMB Circular A-130, to which ALA had strenuously objected. In the newly issued Circular, sections 8a(6)(g) and (h) pertain to the Federal Depository Library Program. Agencies are to establish procedures to ensure compliance with the law requiring that government publications be made available to depository libraries through the Government Printing Office. In a change from past, objectional language, OMB now provides that agencies shall "Provide electronic information dissemination products to the Government Printing Office for distribution to depository libraries." "Information dissemination product" is defined as "any book, paper, map, machine-readable material, audiovisual production, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristic, disseminated by an agency to the public." In a welcome spirit of cooperation, OMB recognizes that "Depository libraries are major partners with the Federal Government in the dissemination of information and contribute significantly to the diversity of information sources available to the public. They provide a mechanism for wide distribution of government information that guarantees basic availability to the public. Executive branch agencies support the depository library program both as a matter of law and on its merits as a means of informing the public about the government." Although the revised circular will not be published in the _Federal Register_ until July 2, ALA members were able to access the text of the revised circular through the Internet while at their Annual Conference in New Orleans. The document is available on the Internet via anonymous FTP from nis.nsf.net as /omb/omb.a130.rev2. The document can also be retrieved via mail query by sending a message to nis-infor@nis.nsf.net. Leave the subject line blank, and put "send omb.a130.rev2" (without the quotes) as the first line of the body of the message. For further information contact: Peter N. Weiss, Information Policy Branch, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Room 3235 New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503; (202) 395-4814. *************************************************************************** HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ACTS ON LIBRARY FUNDING On June 24, the House Appropriations Committee met and ordered reported HR 2518, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill for FY94. All Department of Education Library Services and Construction Act and Higher Education Act library programs would be funded at current levels, except that no funds are included for LSCA V, Foreign Language Materials Acquisition. The report (H.Rept. 103-156) on the bill says: "The Committee has accepted the proposal that funding for foreign language library materials should be the responsibility of individual libraries." Amounts for selected programs include: PROGRAM (amounts in thousands) FY93 FY94 ADMIN. FY94 HSE. APPROP. REQUEST COMMITTEE LIBRARY SERVICES & CONSTRUCTION ACT $128,626 $114,749 $127,658 Title I, public library services 83,227 95,000 83,227 II, pub. lib. construction 16,584 0 16,584 III, interlibrary cooperation 19,749 19,749 19,749 IV, Indian library services * * * V, foreign language materials 968 0 0 VI, library literacy programs 8,098 0 8,098 *2% of LSCA I, II, & III HIGHER EDUCATION ACT 18,425 0 18,425 Title II-A, college library tech. 3,873 0 3,873 II-B, library education 4,960 0 4,960 II-B, research & demonstrations 2,802 0 2,802 II-C, research libraries 5,808 0 5,808 VI sec 607, foreign res. mat. 982 0 982 ESEA Ch. 2 school block grant 458,413 435,461 394,425 Natl. Center for Educ. Statistics 77,850 125,000 77,850 NCLIS 889 904 904 NLM & MLAA 103,613 133,349 118,481 Concerning the HEA II-B library education program, the report states: "The Committee requests that the Department submit a formal report to the Committee on the issue of personnel shortages in the library field and the adequacy of existing training programs to meet the need for trained librarians." The committee also expressed its concern about historically black college and university archives: The Committee is deeply concerned by the continuing disappearance of the historical and cultural legacy of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as well as of land grant colleges founded by, for, and on behalf of, America's African American community. The Committee was informed this year of the minimal resources available to libraries and preservation efforts in these institutions, and notes with concern that, to date, there has been no serious attention paid to a nationwide effort to protect this cultural legacy. The papers in these facilities document an important facet of the African American experience and of American history. The Committee urges the Secretary to undertake a study of the needs in this area and the best mechanism for preserving these documents. The $64 million cut in the Chapter 2 school block grant (under which school library resources and library/media specialist training are eligible activities) is explained as follows: "The Committee remains supportive of the chapter 2 program but believes that a shift of a portion of these funds to other, higher priority activities is justified." The committee also requested a report from the Department of Education on the feasibility of consolidating programs serving the same populations and directed toward similar outcomes, as well as linking existing categorical programs to systemic educational reform at all levels. The committee indicated its intent is not to reduce funds for the populations aided, but the results will be considered in both ESEA reauthorization and FY95 appropriations. The bill includes language permitting the Department of Education to use program funds to pay for direct expenses of nonfederal experts to review applications and proposals for competitive awards. Concerning the National Library of Medicine, the committee said it was "supportive of the high performance computing initiative, but was unable because of budgetary constraints to fund the full increase requested for this activity in the budget." *************************************************************************** SENATE PASSES FY 93 SUPPLEMENTAL A House-Senate conference committee is expected to meet during the week of June 28 to work out differences on the FY93 supplemental funding bill. The efforts of library constituents to reverse the House rescission of funds for three library programs have had a noticeable effect. Many thanks to all who responded to calls to action. On June 22, the Senate passed HR 2118, the FY93 Supplemental Appropriations Bill by voice vote. Although the bill was amended on the floor, no changes were made to the summer jobs provision, and NO education or library program rescissions were made. In the Senate version of HR 2118, the Senate combined parts of two House-passed supplementals--HR 2118 and HR 2244. HR 2244 is the bill in which the House rescinded FY93 funds for three library programs--LSCA VI library literacy projects, HEA II-A college library technology grants, and the HEA II-B research program. *************************************************************************** HOUSE PASSES POSTAL FUNDING BILL The House passed HR 2403, the Treasury-Postal Service Appropriations Bill for FY94 on June 22. Included is $91,434,000 for postal revenue foregone, the same amount recommended by the Administration. The U.S. Postal Service had estimated that $612,500,000 is needed to keep preferred rates at current levels. See the _Legislative Report of the ALA Washington Office_ for related developments on postal revenue foregone. *************************************************************************** HOUSE-PASSED BILL INCLUDES NARA AND NHPRC FUNDING Note that the House-passed HR 2403 also contains $193,182,000 for the National Archives and Records Administration. Of the total, $4 million is for grants under the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. These figures are the same as the President's budget, and would represent a 20 percent cut for NHPRC from its current $5 million level. *************************************************************************** HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES NEH FUNDING The House Appropriations Committee on June 24 approved HR 2520, the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY94. For the National Endowment for the Humanities, the bill includes a total of $177,491,000. Selected NEH programs are shown below: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES FY 1993 FY94 ADMIN. FY94 HSE. (amounts in thousands) APPROP. REQUEST COMMITTEE TOTAL $177,413 $177,491 $177,491 Humanities Projects in Libraries 2,727 2,500 2,500 Office of Preservation 23,102 23,102 23,102 Research Grants 17,886 17,886 17,886 Challenge Grants 14,228 14,228 14,228 The committee noted in its report (H.Rept. 103-158) that the only change it was making to the proposed budget "is in the Office of Preservation for which the Committee recommends an increase of $250,000 for the National Heritage Preservation program. There is an offsetting reduction of $250,000 for the U.S. newspaper program." *************************************************************************** HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES FUNDING FOR NTIA NII PROJECTS The House Appropriations Committee on June 24 approved HR 2519, the FY94 appropriations bill funding several departments, including the Department of Commerce. Included is a recommendation for $21,746,000 for a grant program under the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for national information infrastructure demonstration grants. This amount is less than the $51 million the Clinton Administration recommended. However, the report (H.Rept. 103-157) on the bill notes: "The Committee supports the enactment of a separate information infrastructure grant program authorization, and if enacted, will make whatever adjustments are necessary in the accompanying bill, prior to final action." In the meantime, the $21.7 million would be provided under existing authorities for telecommunications grant programs. The committee urged NTIA to consider six specific pending proposals and "provide grants if warranted." *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** 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). Back issues of ALAWON are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. 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