****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 2, Number 41 September 22, 1993 In this issue: (193 lines) CORRECTION TO SENATE APPROPRIATIONS FIGURES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVES MEET TO DISCUSS INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHES NII ADVISORY COUNCIL *************************************************************************** CORRECTION TO SENATE APPROPRIATIONS FIGURES In the ALAWON issue of September 17 (Vol. 2, No. 40), an error appears in the table reporting funding levels approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee for Department of Education library programs. The amount approved for the Higher Education Act II-C research library program should read "$5,808,000," the same as the House-passed level. *************************************************************************** LIBRARY ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVES MEET TO DISCUSS INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY ISSUES (The following is the text of the press release issued this month by the Library and Information Technology Association, a division of the American Library Association.) Representatives from fifteen national library and information associations met September 8th through 10th in Washington, DC to discuss critical national policy issues dealing with the National Information Infrastructure (NII) -- sometimes called the National Information Highway. The group reached a general consensus on areas of key principles and questions that must be used to guide the development of plans for the evolution of the NII. The chair for the Forum, Elaine Albright (Dean of Cultural Affairs and Libraries for the University of Maine and also chair of the American Library Association Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Telecommunications), said that: "There is strong agreement among this diverse group that libraries will play a key role in the evolution of the national infrastructure, as both providers and consumers of information, as unique access points to the information infrastructure serving the public, and in their unique role in protecting the public interests in access to information." The NII can be considered the evolution of the current many-faceted communication fabric of the nation, made up of telephone and telecommunications, the cable and television delivery systems, and the rapidly emerging Internet and new digital communications systems. The old framework for regulation which has provided separate approaches for the now technologically merging communications media needs to be re-examined in order to ensure that the information infrastructure does not impede economic growth and social progress. However, this examination must reconsider the public interest issues as well as the market issues in modifying the existing framework. The areas identified for the principles to be used in the development and evaluation of plans for the NII are: * First Amendment, * Privacy, * Ubiquity, * Equitable Access, and * Interoperability. The keynote speaker for the Forum was Dr. Michael Nelson, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House, who addressed Administration plans for supporting the NII development through: * Research and development programs aimed at applications and ease of use, * Demonstration programs that support the "Information Highway on-ramps" needed to tie in schools and libraries, and * Steps to stimulate the development of new telecommunications policy needed for the NII. Dr. Frederick Weingarten, Executive Director, Computing Research Association, provided a challenging background paper and address on "NREN and The National Infrastructure: Policy Decisions for Libraries." He pointed out that the model for developing new telecommunications policy had to move from "the model of allocating markets to industries to a balanced process for developing policy which involved public interests as well as market interests." Kenneth Kay, Executive Director, Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), who addressed the Forum on September 9th, observed that "the libraries were ahead of the curve in confronting both the vision of the network and identifying the impact of the NII on libraries and information service structure." He reminded the Forum that there will be winners and losers and that some of the most beneficial results will not be planned. The Forum was supported through major funding from the American Library Association, the Council on Library Resources, and the National Science Foundation. Other participating organizations also contributed to the support of the Forum. The results will be available in proceedings which will be published by LITA this November. Each of the organizations participating will bring the principles to their governing bodies for review, development, and potential endorsement. The principles and questions will be useful tools in the shaping and testing of plans, legislation, and approaches to the major issues involved with the ambitious national information infrastructure undertaking. The organizations involved were: AALL American Association of Law Libraries AASL American Association of School Librarians ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries ALA American Library Association - Committee on Legislation - Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Telecommunications - Committee on Intellectual Freedom ALISE Association for Library & Information Science Education ARL Association of Research Libraries ASCLA Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies ASIS American Society for Information Science CLR Council on Library Resources COSLA Chief Officers of State Library Agencies CNI Coalition for Networked Information LITA Library and Information Technology Association MLA Medical Library Association PLA Public Library Association SLA Special Libraries Association For more information, contact Linda J. Knutson, Executive Director, LITA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL, 60611; 312/280-4256 (voice); 312/280-3257 (fax); U55383@UICVM.UIC.EDU (Internet). *************************************************************************** EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHES NII ADVISORY COUNCIL President Clinton issued an Executive Order on September 15 to establish the United States Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure. The Council of not more than 25 members appointed by the Secretary of Commerce is to advise the Secretary on matters related to the development of the NII. The NII is defined as "the integration of hardware, software, and skills that will make it easy and affordable to connect people with each other, with computers, and with a vast array of services and information resources." Issues the Council may address include the roles of the private and public sectors, a vision for NII evolution, regulatory regimes, strategies for maximizing the benefits, strategies for developing and demonstrating applications (including lifelong learning, government services, and civic networking), national and network security issues, interoperability, international issues, universal access, and privacy, security, and copyright issues. Executive Order No. 12864 was published in the _Federal Register_, September 17, 1993, pp. 48773-4. It can be retrieved electronically from the Library of Congress' LC MARVEL Gopher. From the main menu, select: 6. Federal Government Information 1. Federal Information Resources 1. Information by Agency 1. General Information Resources 6. Federal Register 6. Selected Federal Agencies 7. Presidential Documents 091793:Executive Order 12864 of September 15, 1993 *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. 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 and other documents 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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