****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 4, Number 21 March 10, 1995 In this issue: (187 lines) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BUDGET SUPPORTED BY LIBRARY GROUPS LIBRARY ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE BUDGET DOWNSIZING LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AGENCIES *************************************************************************** LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BUDGET SUPPORTED BY LIBRARY GROUPS On February 23, ALA President-elect Betty Turock testified before the House Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee in support of the FY96 budget request for the Library of Congress. Turock spoke on behalf of ALA, the Association of Research Libraries, and the American Association of Law Libraries. Librarian of Congress James Billington appeared before the Subcommittee on February 22 to request $378,544,000 for FY96 (including the authority to obligate $25,406,000 in receipts), an increase of $30,100,000 or 8.6 percent over FY95. In her testimony, Turock said that this amount would position the Library to move more aggressively into the digital library arena while at the same time, ensure that important programs such as the National Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, and preservation activities are maintained. Turock also told the Subcommittee that the three organizations strongly oppose the proposal to move the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress to the Department of Commerce. She said that the placement of the Copyright Office in the Legislative Branch permits the Office to be a neutral voice on copyright and intellectual property issues. Placing the functions of the Copyright Office in the Department of Commerce would place it in an environment devoted to the promotion of commerce, enhanced productivity, and U.S. competitiveness--not an environment that reflects the needs of creators, users, and researchers. Additionally, the organizations believe that "severing the link between copyright deposit (for both published and unpublished works) would add significant new costs to the Library's budget and would have a detrimental effect on the depth and breadth of the Library's collection....The richness of these collections is a direct result of the fact that the Library has been designated as the repository for U.S. copyright deposits for nearly 150 years." Subcommittee Chair Ron Packard (R-CA) assured Turock that House Speaker Gingrich told him that "everything is on the table" except the Library of Congress. *************************************************************************** LIBRARY ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE BUDGET Public Printer Michael DiMario presented his FY96 budget request to the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee on February 22. His request for the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation of the Superintendent of Documents was $30,307,000 million, a decrease of $1,900,000 million, or 5.9 percent, from FY95. DiMario said this amount is sufficient to maintain GPO's program responsibilities while also managing the transition to the appropriate use of electronic media. The request included $25,600,000 million for distribution of publications to depository libraries; $3,300,000 million for cataloging and indexing government publications; and the remainder divided between international exchange and bylaw distribution. The request for the Depository Library Program was a reduction of approximately $2,400,000, or 13.4 percent, from the amount approved for FY95. It included $2,200,000 for online access provided to depository libraries by the GPO Access service, and $13,300,000 for the production of paper, microfiche, and CD-ROM publications. The distribution of electronic copies has been steadily increasing, with about 454,000 copies projected for FY96, a 50 percent increase over FY95. Testifying on behalf of ALA, the Association of Research Libraries, and the American Association of Law Libraries, ALA President-elect Betty Turock strongly recommended that GPO receive the funding it requires to administer the Depository Library Program. She emphasized that depository libraries are partners with the federal government in providing public access to government information. Turock described how the GPO Access System is providing no-fee public access to federal information on-site at depositories and off-site through gateways in Missouri, Alaska, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Four pages of testimonials from satisfied depository library users were attached to her statement. Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Ron Packard (R-CA) asked Turock which she would choose if it were a choice of receiving electronic information from the Library of Congress and other agencies, or receiving hard copy. Turock responded that the electronic and hard copies are not mutually exclusive. She said that a variety of formats are needed to meet the needs of users. She pointed out that not all depository libraries are equipped to receive electronic information and that not all people can use these formats. Packard said that Congress' dilemma was the cost of the transition. "We can't do both. Depository libraries may have to make a choice." Packard said that public assistance may be available to provide equipment to help depositories upgrade because this would save money over the long run. He sees the day when information will flow online from the government and Congress. The questions are how long this will be in coming, and how to save money. *************************************************************************** DOWNSIZING LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AGENCIES At a joint hearing of the House and Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittees on February 2, legislators signaled their intention to study legislative support agencies with the possibility of downsizing or eliminating them. Nearly half of the legislative branch's annual $2.4 billion budget goes to the General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office, Office of Technology Assessment, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, and Architect of the Capitol. Among other things, witnesses recommended abolishing the Government Printing Office and contracting with the private sector to carry out its functions. Two Reagan-era officials, former Public Printer Danford Sawyer and former OMB staffer Timothy Sprehe, recommended abolishing GPO. Sprehe incorrectly described GPO as "the same old print-oriented environment, a struggling sales program, a depository library program being slowly starved of funds." Sprehe recommended transferring the function of the Superintendent of Documents to the Library of Congress with the stipulations that: ...the government documents sales program should be abolished, and the executive agencies that produce government documents should be permitted to sell their documents directly to the public. Documents sales could be integrated into the Government Information Locator Service recently founded in the executive branch. LOC should radically restructure the federal depository library program to bring it into conformity with the realities of the information superhighway. Perhaps a nationwide electronic network will prove to be the best delivery system for getting government documents to the public through depository libraries. LOC should carry out the functions of cataloging and indexing, bylaw distribution, and international exchange. Challenging the perspective of Sawyer and Sprehe, former Public Printer John Boyle, who retired in 1980, said the GPO is a credit to the government, to the legislative branch, and to the printing industry. "GPO has maintained a level of efficiency with a flat appropriation and 50 percent fewer employees over the last several years that few private companies could match. In the face of fiscal cutbacks and scrutiny as to its very existence, GPO developed its Electronic Access System on time and on budget. That is a model for other electronic databases. What you might hear about saving millions of dollars by closing GPO does not make any sense. The Congressional printing must be done somewhere; and, it is presently being done well, on time, and at a reasonable cost." *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** 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. Contributing to this issue: Anne A. Heanue; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). 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. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***