ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 11, Number 68 August 27, 2002 In This Issue: [1] USDA Seeks Comments on National Agriculture Library Report [2] Declaration of Independence Road Trip! [1] USDA Seeks Comments on National Agriculture Library Report The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued the task force "Report on the National Agricultural Library 2001" for 30 days of public comment. USDA's National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board will review and consider the public comments in developing specific recommendations for the future management of the National Agricultural Library. The "Report on the National Agricultural Library 2001" is the work of a task force to assess the National Agricultural Library. The task force studied the mission, management, programs, and operation of the Library in pursuit of its legislated mandate to serve as the chief agricultural information resource of the United States. The task force report is available on the National Agricultural Library Web site at http://www.nal.usda.gov/assessment/. Notice of the public comment period was published in the Federal Register on Friday, August 16, 2002. Comments concerning the task force Report may be sent by mail, fax, or E-mail. To ensure full consideration, submit comments by September 16, 2002 to Susan McCarthy, Technical Information Specialist, USDA, ARS, National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 203, Beltsville, MD 20705-2351 or by FAX: 301-504-6951. Submit electronic comments to comments@nal.usda.gov. The ALA Washington Office would also appreciate receiving a copy of your comments. Please send a copy of your comments to Mary Costabile at the ALA Washington Office (mcostabile@alawash.org). The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board advises the Department of Agriculture and its land-grant university partners on relevant policies and priorities and their effectiveness. The Advisory Board also provides customer input in strategic planning for the USDA Research, Education, and Economics mission area. The National Agricultural Library is one of four national libraries and the principal source in the United States for information about food, agriculture, and natural resources. The Library's expert staff, large and accessible collections, and leadership role in information services and technology applications make it the world's foremost agricultural library. The Library is part of the Agricultural Research Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. [2] Declaration of Independence Road Trip! The Declaration of Independence Road Trip is finally beginning! The trip begins in Charleston, South Carolina on September 11th and then travels to Camden, South Carolina. On Sept 26th the Declaration arrives at the Charlotte Museum of History and remains there until October 6th. Its next stop is the 1796 Courthouse in Beaufort, North Carolina on October 8th and finally it goes to Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of History. On Oct 26th, the exhibit comes to the Louisville Free Public Library. Library Director Craig Buthod says that their DOI coordinator, Karen James, has put together a great deal of programming to prepare Louisville for the document's arrival. The Declaration will then make a quick stop in Danville, KY from November 5th - 6th. The exhibit will then travel to the Nashville Public Library from November 9th through 21st. Donna Nicely, the Nashville P.L. Director, has asked Pam Reese to handle public relations surrounding Nashville's stop on the Road Trip. The trip finishes up the year in Mississippi at the University of Mississippi in Oxford Dec 3rd through 4th and then at the State Capitol in Jackson Dec 7th through 15th. In 2003, the trip will continue to Birmingham, AL; New Orleans, Little Rock, and Kansas City, MO. Please visit the Road Trip web site! The site has detailed information about this traveling exhibit and also offers a link where visitors can register to vote! The web site can be found at: www.independenceroadtrip.org ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell, Claudette Tennant. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.