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                                                   ISSN 1069-7799
                              ALAWON
                  ALA Washington Office Newsline
                 An electronic publication of the
          American Library Association Washington Office

                       Volume 4, Number 74 
                          August 4, 1995

   In this issue: (304 lines)
     HOUSE COMMITTEE ISSUES REPORT ON LSTA BLOCK GRANT BILL, H.R.
          1617

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HOUSE COMMITTEE ISSUES REPORT ON LSTA BLOCK GRANT BILL, H.R. 1617

On May 24, the House Committee on Economic and Educational
Opportunities approved by a vote of 29-5 a revised version of
H.R. 1617, the Consolidated and Reformed Education, Employment,
and Rehabilitation Systems (CAREERS) Act.  This bill includes the
Library Services and Technology Consolidation Grant, a modified
version of the Library Services and Technology Act proposal.

The Opportunities Committee issued its report (H. Rept. 104-152)
on June 22, and the 746-page report and the text (233 pages) of
the revised H.R. 1617 have recently become available.  The next
step is House floor action, not expected until after the August
recess (that is, after Labor Day).

SUMMARY OF BILL.  A concise summary of this large bill is
provided by the Congressional Budget Office in its cost estimate,
included in the committee report:

     H.R. 1617 would repeal the authorizations of
     appropriations for many education, job training, and
     vocational rehabilitation programs.  This bill also
     would modify other education and labor programs for the
     purpose of consolidating and reforming workforce
     development and literacy programs.  In place of the
     programs repealed, four new consolidated state grant
     programs would be established beginning in 1997, and a
     substantially revised and consolidated vocational
     rehabilitation state grant program would be phased in
     by 1999.  The four new consolidated state grants
     created by the bill would be: the Youth Workforce
     Preparation and Development Consolidation Grant; the
     Adult Employment and Training Consolidation Grant; the
     Adult Education and Family Literacy Consolidation
     Grant; and the Library Technology Consolidation Grant.

LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY EMPHASIS.  Title IV of H.R. 1617 includes two
consolidations--adult education and family literacy (subtitle A),
and library services and technology (subtitle B).  The Library
Services and Technology Consolidation Grant is a much briefer and
modified version of LSTA.  The LSTA, as developed by ALA and
other library groups, was focused equally on technology and
outreach services.  The Committee's library block grant is
focused much more (although not exclusively) on technology. 
Excerpts from the report explain the Committee's rationale:

          The Committee recognizes the valuable role
     America's libraries have played in ensuring that all
     Americans have equal access to information.  When the
     Library Services and Construction Act was first
     authorized in 1956, the goal of this program was to
     ensure that all Americans had access to libraries and
     the information they contain.  The Committee is pleased
     to note that today, 96 percent of all Americans have
     access to libraries.
          However, this nation is currently undergoing a
     technological revolution and recently, we have
     witnessed a tremendous proliferation in new sources of
     information.  This trend will not only continue, but is
     certain to accelerate.  It is clear that America's
     libraries will need to take advantage of these new
     technologies if they are to continue to ensure that all
     Americans have equal access to information.
          A 1994 study conducted by the U.S. National
     Commission on Libraries and Information Science found
     that only 20.9 percent of America's 9,050 public
     libraries had any involvement with the Internet.  Of
     these, only 13 percent reported that they offered
     patrons access to the Internet.  It is clear that the
     time has come for a shift in Federal library policy,
     and that shift must be toward helping this country's
     libraries, and ultimately the American public, gain
     access to the technologies and information they will
     need as we move into the 21st century.
          The Committee reported bill will do just that.  It
     consolidates the Library Services and Construction Act,
     the Academic Library and Information Services
     provisions in Title II of the Higher Education Act of
     1965, and the Elementary and Secondary School Library
     Media Resources program from the Elementary and
     Secondary Education Act into one Federal libraries
     program focused on helping all libraries acquire
     cutting edge technologies.
          Library Services Technology Consolidation grants
     will provide for library service to citizens through
     the use of new information technologies.  They will
     help bring America's libraries, public, elementary and
     secondary schools, and academics, into the 21st
     century.  They will help libraries form electronic
     linkages with one another to better share resources,
     and they will give all Americans access to new and
     better sources of information, such as the Internet. 
     In addition, libraries will use these funds to forge
     connections with one-stop career centers providing a
     unique resource for those who wish to find or improve
     careers.
          Central to this mission is the philosophy that
     access to electronic information resources must be both
     democratic and egalitarian.  Libraries and Librarians
     must be well equipped to help patrons navigate the
     information superhighway and provide access to the
     wealth of information available; government
     information, library resources, education and job
     information.  For millions of Americans, the library
     will become the on-ramp to the information
     superhighway....
          ...Just as the Library Services and Construction
     Act provided access to libraries for millions of
     Americans, Library Services Technology Consolidation
     grants will give Americans equal access to the
     information sources of the 21st Century.

ADDITIONAL CONSOLIDATION.  LSTA as developed by ALA and other
library groups was designed to replace only LSCA.  The
Committee's much briefer and modified block grant version of
grants to the states does not and cannot replace other types of
grants for school library materials, special projects at academic
and research libraries, fellowship and training programs, and
large research and demonstration projects.  However, the
Opportunities Committee chose to replace all Department of
Education library programs with its Library Services and
Technology Consolidation Grant.  H. Rept. 104-152 provides this
rationale:

          Several Federal programs and agencies provide
     assistance to elementary and secondary, college and
     university, and public libraries....
          Of the major programs..., the Elementary and
     Secondary School Library Media Resources Program was
     authorized at a $200,000,000 level in 1994, but has
     received no funding to date.
          Funding for library programs under Title II of the
     Higher Education Act in 1995 was somewhat better--approximately $11.4 million.
          On the other hand, the Library Services and
     Construction Act, which is the largest Federal program
     of assistance specifically to libraries, received
     $132.7 million in 1995....As amended in 1990, the LSCA
     contains eight titles authorizing aid for many
     different, and in some cases, duplicative
     activities....
          Rather than continue to spend limited Federal
     dollars on multiple activities, the Committee believes
     it is more efficient to narrowly focus Federal
     assistance upon one area--electronic technology. 
     Accordingly, Subtitle B of Title IV of H.R. 1617
     consolidates the major Federal library service programs
     into a single categorical grant which will be used to
     improve public access to information through electronic
     networks, and provide linkages among and between
     libraries and one-stop career center systems.

REPEALS--SCHOOL LIBRARY PROGRAM.  In addition to repealing the
current Library Services and Construction Act, H.R. 1617 would
repeal the School Library Media Resources Program, Part F of the
Technology for Education Act of 1994 (title III of the Improving
America's Schools Act of 1994, the omnibus measure that revised
and replaced the Elementary and Secondary Education Act).  

Section 3 of H.R. 1617 contains definitions, and indicates that
the term "library" includes a public library, a public elementary
or secondary school library, an academic library, a research
library, and a private library (if the state in which it is
located determines to include it for purposes of the act). 
Assistance under the library block grant could certainly be used
for electronic linkages with school library media centers, but
not for widespread acquisition of books and other library
materials as intended under the 1994 school library media
resources program.

REPEALS--HEA LIBRARY PROGRAMS.  During Committee consideration of
H.R. 1617, the Higher Education Act provisions (primarily
privatization of the Student Loan Marketing Association and the
College Construction Loan Insurance Association) were pulled out
of the bill for separate consideration and revision.  The HEA
provisions have been incorporated in a new bill, H.R. 1720, the
Privatization Act of 1995.  The Opportunities Committee approved
a revised version of the bill on June 8 by a voice vote, and the
Committee report (H. Rept. 104-153) was issued on June 22.

As in the original H.R. 1617, H.R. 1720 includes a long list of
HEA programs to be repealed, including all HEA library programs. 
H. Rept. 104-153 states:  "Recognizing that this is a time of
scarce taxpayer dollars, the Committee believes eliminating and
consolidating small categorical programs will result in a more
prudent and focused use of these scarce dollars."  The report
notes that most of the programs to be repealed "are taken
directly from the Administration's 1996 budget."

HEA library or library-related programs to be repealed include
all HEA title II Academic Library and Information Services
programs (only HEA II-B education/training, and
research/demonstrations are currently funded; II-A, II-C, and II-D are not now funded); Foreign Language Periodicals (not
currently funded, section 607 of title VI, International
Education); and Improvement of Academic and Library Facilities
(Part A of title VI, currently not funded).  Rep. Major Owens (D-NY) attempted to remove repeals of library programs, but was not
successful.

All Opportunities Committee Democrats except Rep. Robert Andrews
(D-NJ) filed joint minority views, included in the report, in
which they "vigorously object to the provisions in this bill that
repeal 53 existing higher education programs.  These provisions
were repealed without the benefit of any hearing, public comment
period, or the opportunity for interested parties to inform us of
their views or concerns.  This is not the way this committee
should conduct its business."

The minority views single out library program for comment:  "At
the heart of our educational system lie the nation's libraries. 
But not even these centers of community learning are being spared
in the Republicans' haste to slash the budget."  The currently
funded HEA II-B "makes a major difference in recruitment of
minorities in the field of library science and in supporting
doctoral candidates who later replenish faculty in library
schools" and "supports major research and demonstration projects
in library science which otherwise would not exist."

ADVANCE FUNDING OF LIBRARY BLOCK GRANT.  One feature of H.R. 1617
that was not previously apparent comes to light in the Committee-reported version.  It is both an advantage and a problem. 
Section 6 provides that appropriations "under this Act shall be
available for obligation only on the basis of a program year. 
The program year shall begin on July 1 in the fiscal year for
which the appropriation is made."  Further, funds "may be
expended by each recipient during that program year and the two
succeeding program years..."

What this means is that the library block grant would be advance
funded; that is, funds appropriated in one fiscal year would not
become available for obligation until the following year.  The
existing LSCA is funded on a current-year basis.  Advance funding
allows for better planning, but also leaves funding more
susceptible to rescission.  The biggest problem the switch would
cause for the library program in this budget-cutting climate is a
gap of nearly one fiscal year without funding unless
appropriators provided extra dollars in the start-up year (FY97).

ALA has recommended to the Opportunities Committee a technical
amendment that would provide an exception to this provision so
that the library funding would continue on a current year basis
under the bill.

LIBRARY ELIGIBILITY IN LITERACY PROGRAMS.  Libraries are eligible
for participation in other programs in H.R. 1617, either through
specific mention, or through eligibility for schools and agencies
of local government.  Libraries are included in the list of local
service providers under the title IV adult education and family
literacy grants to states, and all these local service providers,
including libraries, "shall be provided direct and equitable
access to Federal funds provided under this subtitle..."  H.
Rept. 104-152 adds:  The Committee believes that libraries have
served and continue to serve as an important resource for
literacy services."  Title IV, subtitle A, would be authorized at
$280 million.

ONE-STOP CAREER CENTERS.  Title I, Workforce Development
Infrastructure, would require the governors to establish
statewide criteria for workforce development boards to designate
one-stop career center systems.  These one-stop career centers
would include common intake, preliminary assessment, and
integrated job search assistance.  The library block grant
clearly indicates that libraries should be electronically linked
to these one-stop career centers.  State officials representing
libraries must be included by the governor in the state
collaborative process required in order to receive funds under
any of the state grants in the bill.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/VOC. ED.  Title II, Youth Development and
Career Preparation Consolidation Grant, would consolidate and
replace vocational education and Job Training Partnership Act
youth programs at a total $2.3 billion authorization.  Funds are
provided to states, and within states, to local educational
agencies, postsecondary institutions, local workforce development
boards, and secondary-postsecondary consortia.  Subgrants are
also authorized for in-school and at-risk youth.  Eligible
providers of youth development and career preparation programs
for at-risk youth include several types of educational and
correctional institutions, units of local government, and one-stop career centers.

NATIVE AMERICANS.  Title III, Adult Employment and Training
Consolidation Grant, would be authorized at $2.3 billion.  Most
of the appropriations would go for grants to states, but 15
percent would be reserved for several federal programs including
grants for dislocated workers, disaster relief employment
assistance, workforce skills and development loans, and research
and evaluation.  Section 315 of the federal programs is
Employment, Training, and Education Assistance for Native
Americans.  The Secretary of Labor is to provide an unspecified
amount from the 15 percent for assistance to Indian tribes and
related entities for "employment, training, vocational
rehabilitation, library services, and education assistance for
Native Americans."  

H. Rept. 104-152 explains:  "The CAREERS Act consolidates seven
existing programs for Native Americans as part of the overall
adult consolidation grant.  Funds for Native Americans are
maintained at the Federal level and available to eligible tribes
and service providers."  Because of this consolidation, no
setaside for library services for Native Americans is included in
the library block grant.

HEARINGS.  H. Rept. 104-152 summarizes the hearings related to
the purposes of H.R. 1617.  Although no hearing was devoted
specifically to the library provision, the report notes that Anne
Campbell, Director of the National City (CA) Public Library,
testified on library literacy programs at the April 25 hearing in
San Diego held by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and
Families.  The same subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Randy (Duke)
Cunningham (R-CA), held a hearing on May 2 in Washington, D.C.,
at which Jeanne Hurley Simon, Chair of the U.S. National
Commission on Libraries and Information Science, testified.

ALA RESOLUTIONS.  On June 28 during the ALA Annual Conference,
the ALA Council passed two resolutions that relate to H.R. 1617. 
One (CD #20.11) commended the Opportunities Committee, and
specifically Reps. Randy Cunningham (R-CA), William Goodling (R-PA), and Dale Kildee (D-MI) for including elements of ALA's LSTA
proposal in H.R. 1617.  The other (CD #20.12) urged retention and
funding of the school library media resources program.  Both have
been transmitted to appropriate legislators.


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