================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 106 ISSN 1069-7799 December 3, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (112 lines) -LSTA TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS ENACTED -NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM -U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OERI VISITING SCHOLARS PROGRAM _________________________________________________________________ LSTA TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS ENACTED Several technical and conforming amendments to the Library Services and Technology Act have been given final congressional approval and signed into law. S. 1505, passed by the Senate on November 9, was passed by the House on November 13 by voice vote, and signed into law (P.L. 105-128, Museum and Library Services Technical and Conforming Amendments of 1997) by the President on December 1, 1997. The amendments include 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 Native American library services, and correction of a typographical error. Additional details were provided in an earlier ALAWON (v6, n99, November 12, 1997) on S. 1505. During House consideration of the bill, both Reps. Michael Castle (R-DE) and Dale Kildee (D-MI) spoke in favor of passage. Rep. Kildee added: ...we are fortunate indeed to have Ms. Diane Frankel as the director of our Institute of Museum and Library Services. She is an exceptionally strong and talented leader, and enactment of these amendments will most certainly enable her and her able staff to build upon the superb record they have compiled at this small but very important agency. _________________________________________________________________ NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM The NEH Office of Challenge Grants helps institutions and organizations engaged in humanities activities to secure long- term support for, and improvements in, their programs and resources. Awards are made to museums, public libraries, colleges, historical societies, public television and radio stations, universities, scholarly associations, and other nonprofit entities improve their financial stability and the quality of their humanities activities. The application deadline for Challenge Grants is May 1, 1998; draft proposals are due by March 1, 1998. For more information contact the Office of Challenge Grants, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506, phone: 202/606-8309, e-mail: challenge@neh.fed.us, or Internet: www.neh.gov/html/guidelin/challeng.html. _________________________________________________________________ U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OERI VISITING SCHOLARS PROGRAM The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U. S. Department of Education provides national leadership for educational research and statistics, and funds education research, demonstration, and school improvement programs; collects and analyzes statistics; reports on the condition of education; and disseminates information about education programs. The OERI Visiting Scholars Program will seek fellows to assume a 9 to 18-month residency in Washington, D.C. at one of the five National Research Institutes that are a part of OERI. On behalf of the OERI, the National Research Council (NRC) will conduct a national competition to award 1-2 fellowships for each of the 5 institutes to scholars, researchers, policy makers, education practitioners, librarians, or statisticians who are engaged in the use, collection, and dissemination of information about education and educational research. The awards will be made in April 1998 to those individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, show the greatest promise for contributing to the designated institute and future achievement in educational research. For more information contact the Fellowship Office, NRC, 2101 Constitution Ave., TJ 2038, Washington, D.C. 20418, phone: 202/334-2872, e-mail: infofell@nas.edu, or Internet: fellowships.nas.edu. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. 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