================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 120 ISSN 1069-7799 December 19, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (119 lines) PREVIEW OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND SESSIONS AT ALA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE _________________________________________________________________ PREVIEW OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND SESSIONS AT ALA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE With a January 1 start-up date for the E-Rate discount program on telecommunications services, inside wiring, and Internet access, what better way to spend your time at ALA Midwinter Conference than at the following ALA Office for Information Technology Policy & Washington Office universal service fund sessions: Special Briefing on Universal Service Friday, January 9 10 a.m.-12:00 p.m. New Orleans Convention Center (NOCC) Rooms 101-102 This session is intended primarily for library automation vendors. The focus will be on the vendors' role in the telecommunications discount program including ways in which vendors may qualify for support from the universal service fund and how vendors can help facilitate the start-up of the discount program. Those interested in attending this session should RSVP to Danielle Alderson in ALA's executive office in Chicago at 312/280-3205, e-mail: dponton@ala.org, or fax: 312/944-3897. Legislative Update Saturday, January 10 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. NOCC Room 103-104 The ALA Committee on Legislation holds its legislative update! Approximately one hour of this meeting will be dedicated to universal service issues. K. G. Ouye from the Schools and Libraries Corporation will join OITP staff, Andrew Magpantay and Aleck Johnson, for discussion of the issues. Topics include an update on the start-up process for discounts and a look at the road blocks that still lie ahead, including Capitol Hill's on-going debate on universal service and the status of lawsuits against the program. ASCLA Network Assembly Monday, January 12 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Monteleone QA BR ASCLA's (Association for Specialized Cooperative Library Agencies) Network Assembly Division, LITA's (Library Information Technology Association) Library Consortia Automated Systems Interest Group, and PLA's (Public Library Association)'s Technology in Public Libraries Committee host this session along with ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy & Washington Office. This session will focus on the aggregation and consortia issues for the E-Rate discount program as well as questions regarding the overall application process. Telecommunications Subcommittee Monday, January 12 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. NOCC Room 44 The Committee on Legislation's Telecommunications Subcommittee meets. This session will focus on questions regarding the E-Rate discount program application process. A limited number of copies of application and instruction forms will be available at each of these sessions along with our next Special Report on E-Rate discounts and the E-Rate Hotline brochure. The School and Libraries Corporation mailed application and instruction forms to libraries and schools in mid-December. Applications for discounts will be accepted once the School and Libraries Corporation's official bidding website becomes available in mid-January. To learn more about the discount program and the application process, be sure to check these additional resources: E-Rate Hotline 800/733-6860 www.eratehotline.org Schools and Libraries Corporation 888/203-8100 www.slcfund.org ALA Office for Information Technology Policy 800/941-8478 www.ala.org/oitp/univserv.html _________________________________________________________________ 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. =================================================================