================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 111 ISSN 1069-7799 December 11, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (71 lines) CLARIFICATION REGARDING UNIVERSAL SERVICE _________________________________________________________________ CLARIFICATION REGARDING UNIVERSAL SERVICE MCI Communications Corporation has sent a letter to Mary Ghikas, ALA Acting Executive Director, requesting a clarification of certain information in the ALA Washington Office ALAWON issue of December 8, 1997 (v.6, n. 108). ALAWON editors are pleased to report that MCI reiterates its "continued commitment to education, schools, and libraries," noting that the company has "dedicated substantial MCI resources, technology and funding to support schools and libraries." On the clarification MCI has requested regarding our action alert relating to library/school telecom discounts, we quote in full: With regard to the inaccuracies in your statement: MCI has passed on all access charge reductions and more to the American public. This is not only the case for the most recent reductions, but for the prior access reductions as well. MCI has always been a strong supporter of Universal Service. We have been put in the unenviable position of collecting and paying not only our share of those charges but the local phone monopolies share as well. MCI has stated to the FCC our intention of placing these charges as a line item on customer bills. Most importantly, the FCC access reform order on Universal Service states that charges would be collected in this manner, specifically in paragraph 855 of the FCC order. ALA continues to believe the most appropriate step for library advocates to take is to contact their congressional offices to express thanks for the universal service provision, and to urge their legislators to support implementation of library and school telecom discounts by the FCC on January 1, 1998. _________________________________________________________________ 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. =================================================================