================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 99 ISSN 1069-7799 November 12, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (110 lines) - SENATE PASSES TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO LSTA - CORRECTION TO NOVEMBER 10 ALAWON: SIMON NOMINATED ________________________________________________________________ SENATE PASSES TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO LSTA The Senate passed on November 9 by voice vote a set of technical and conforming amendments to the Library Services and Technology Act and to the Museum and Library Services Act in which LSTA is embedded. The bill, S. 1505, is now awaiting action by the House. LSTA, enacted last fall, included a requirement that the Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services should submit any required technical amendments to Congress within six months. Last spring, IMLS did identify several needed amendments, some of which had been identified by the ALA or librarians in the field as glitches that needed correction. The package approved in S. 1505 included adjustments to the appointment authority of the IMLS director, a clarification that special libraries are included in the definition of library, a clarification of the maintenance of effort requirement, a clarification that national leadership awards could include cooperative agreements, adjustments to the provisions for Indian library services, and correction of a typographical error. S. 1505 includes three changes to the LSTA provisions for Indian library services. First, it amends the section heading from "Service to Indian Tribes" to read "Service to Native Americans." Second, instead of grants under this section going only to organizations that serve and represent Indian tribes, the bill states that grants may be made "to Indian tribes and to organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians (as the term is defined in section 9212 of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7912).@ Third, it adjusts the setaside for library services to Native Americans from 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent of LSTA appropriations. The national leadership grants, which now have a setaside of 4 percent, would be reduced to 3.75 percent of LSTA appropriations. The provisions relating to Native Hawaiians and to the increase in the setaside for library services to Native Americans were requested by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI). On the Senate floor, Sen. Inouye engaged Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT), the chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee (where the bill originated) in a colloquy about the intent of the amendments. Sen. Inouye stated: It is my understanding that in enacting the Museum and Library Services Act, the Congress sought to extend the authority for the library services programs that have proven to be so effective in enriching the reading and vocabulary skills of Americans of all ages. In our State, it has enabled Native Hawaiian children to begin to perform on a par with other students. It has effected a reduction in the drop-out rates of Native Hawaiian students and demonstrated a marked improvement in their performance on achievement tests, and has enabled adults with new literacy skills to secure employment. It is because of the importance of this program to the Native Hawaiian people of our State that I seek your clarification that the bill...is intended simply to maintain the status quo relative to the federal support for Native Hawaiian library services by extending the authority for grants to Native Hawaiian organizations for this purpose. Sen. Jeffords agreed that: "It is our intent to assure that .25 percent of appropriated funds are reserved to provide services to Hawaiian Natives. This authority did exist under the Library Services and Construction Act." Although Congress simplified the library provisions for Indian tribes considerably in passing LSTA last fall, the Senate amendments bring this part of the new Act closer to the comparable LSCA provisions. _________________________________________________________________ CORRECTION: In the November 10, 1997 ALAWON (v. 6, n.97), the headline regarding Jeanne Hurly Simon should have read "JEANNE HURLEY SIMON NOMINATED FOR A SECOND TERM AT NCLIS." We apologize for the error. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================