================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 29 ISSN 1069-7799 March 21, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (145 lines) NEWLY APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF NEH TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS CONGRESSIONAL READING CAUCUS CREATED CLARIFICATION TO "LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO PUT CRS DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET" (ALAWON V7, N22, MARCH 6, 1998) _________________________________________________________________ NEWLY APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF NEH TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS On March 12, William Ferris, newly appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), testified for the first time before the House Interior Subcommittee on NEH's FY99 budget request. Ferris informed the subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), that NEH plans to build 10 regional humanities centers around the country as part of a broad-based initiative -- Rediscovering America Through the Humanities. "The objective of all the initiative's activities is to encourage Americans to observe the dawning of a new millennium by rediscovering the nation's history and culture and by preserving this rich heritage for the benefit of future generations," Ferris said. The mission of the centers will be to explore each region's distinctive culture. One NEH activity will involve digitizing important materials held by the nation's museum, libraries, archives, and historical organizations. To support the effort, NEH will establish a public-private partnership. Ferris said he was pleased with the President's continuing commitment to NEH, as demonstrated by the President's FY99 budget request of $136 million. He added that although this is an increase of approximately $26 million over this year's budget, it is still significantly lower than the $172 million appropriated in FY95. Rep. James Moran (D-VA) said he too was troubled with the lower level of funding NEH has received in the last few years. Chairman Regula, however, was skeptical that the subcommittee would ultimately be able to support the President's budget request for NEH. The chairman also expressed concern regarding the equity of NEH funding among the states. He asked that the NEH grant process be simplified and that NEH notify members of Congress when their states are awarded grants. Ferris agreed to the two proposals. Rep. Yates (D-IL) and other subcommittee members expressed their confidence in Ferris to continue NEH's mission. Yates, a strong NEH supporter, will be retiring at the end of this congressional session. _________________________________________________________________ CONGRESSIONAL READING CAUCUS CREATED On March 12, Rep. Anne Northup (R-KY), founder of the House Reading Caucus, and Rep. Carrie Meek (D-FL) announced that they will co-chair a bipartisan Congressional Reading Caucus. The caucus will provide a Congressional forum to look at literacy and ways to provide a high quality of education for children. Being able to read "is an essential component of being successful in school," said Rep. Northup. "Literacy has become a national problem," said Rep. Meek. "Almost half of American students are not reading at grade level." Current members of the Congressional Reading Caucus include: Anne Northup (R-KY), co-chair Carrie Meek (D-FL), co-chair Corrine Brown (D-FL) Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) Jay Dickey (R-AZ) Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TX) Bob Filner (D-CA) Alcee Hastings (D-FL) William Jefferson (D-LA) Eddie Johnson (D-TX) Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) Matthew Martinez (D-CA) Joseph Pitts (R-PA) Deborah Pryce (R-OH) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R-FL) Bennie Thompson (D-MS) Albert Wynn (D-MD) For further information about the Congressional Reading Caucus, contact Rep. Northup's office at (202) 225-5401 or Rep. Meek's office at (202) 225-4506. _________________________________________________________________ CLARIFICATION TO "LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO PUT CRS DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET" (ALAWON V7, N22, MARCH 6, 1998) Currently CRS does not have a publicly available web site. According to a statement in December by Library of Congress spokeswoman Jill Brett, CRS is required by law to provide nonpartisan information to members and their committees and "confidential analysis and information exclusively for Congressional clients." CRS is prohibited by law and Congressional guidelines from directly making available "most of its written products to non-Congressional requesters." As reported, during its Midwinter Meeting in January, ALA Council passed the "Resolution on Congressional Research Service Publications" urging that the Joint Committee on the Library, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and the House Oversight Committee take immediate action to assure that publicly released Congressional Research Service reports and information products are distributed in a timely manner to the general public through Federal Depository Libraries and on the Internet. That resolution is available online at http://www.ala.org/washoff/cd2003.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. =================================================================