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                                                   ISSN 1069-7799
                             ALAWON
                 ALA Washington Office Newsline
               An electronic publication of the 
         American Library Association Washington Office
                                
                      Volume 5, Number 11
                         March 17, 1996
                                
In this issue: (100 lines)
     APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

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                     APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

The Senate continued debate on Friday, March 15, on the omnibus
appropriations bill.  The House and Senate approved a one week
temporary spending bill on March 14 to avert another government
shut-down.  H.J.Res. 163 extends funding through March 22 to
allow more time for both House and Senate to continue work on the
omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 3019.

Procedurally, the amendment to restore literacy funds to LSCA VI,
as well as funding for prison literacy and other adult literacy
initiatives, planned by Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) was unable to
be offered.  ALAWON reported on the proposed amendment in Vol. 5,
No. 10, March 13, 1996, (report: Senator Simon Proposes Literacy
Funding Amendment.)
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ALA PRESIDENT TUROCK'S TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT CONVENED ON FEBRUARY 20

ALA President Betty Turock's Technology Summit -- A Nation
Connected: Defining the Public's Interest in the Information
Superhighway -- was held February 20 at the Annenberg Center at
Eisenhower at Rancho Mirage, California.  Assisting with the
summit was one of many key activities of the ALA's Office for
Information Technology Policy (OITP) during its first year.

Moderated by Charles Ogletree, the Harvard Law School professor
best known for his work on PBS's _Ethics in America_ series, 20
expert panelists from a wide variety of backgrounds, including 
vice-president of AT&T Bell Laboratories and Noble Prize winner,
Arno Penzias, Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Barrum, and 
Congressman Major Owens, the only librarian serving in Congress.

President and CEO of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF, Gwendolyn
Calvert Baker, writer and HotWired founding executive editor,
Howard Rhinegold, EDventure Holdings president Esther Dyson, and
others also spent the day discussing such issues as whether the
development of the information superhighway is changing our
concept of democracy, whether those who are not connected are
being socially and economically disadvantaged, and what role
libraries have in assisting Internet users in navigating the
net's overwhelming resources.
 
Also in attendance at the summit were thirty library observers
who will be submitting written comments and responses to the
summit discussion. Out of that is expected to come a set of
proceedings that ALA will publicize and disseminate to the
profession for use in continuing discussion of and planning for
the profession's role in promoting the public's interest in the
development of the information superhighway.

A full report on the summit will be appearing in the April issue
of _American Libraries_. For further information contact Andrew
Magpantay, ALA Office of Information Technology Policy, at 202-628-8421; email: jam@alawash.org.
 
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ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the
American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania
Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004.  Internet:
alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628-8419. 
Contributing to this issue: Mary Rae Costabile and Andrew
Magpantay; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org).

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