================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 38 ISSN 1069-7799 April 6, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (200 lines) - INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES HEARING - TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE - EVEN START STATEWIDE FAMILY LITERACY GRANTS - LITERACY LEADER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM ANNOUNCED _________________________________________________________________ INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES HEARING On April 1 the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on the Institute of Museum and Library Services library programs. IMLS Director Diane Frankel testified before Chairman John Porter (R-IL) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Chairman Porter said the subcommittee was most concerned with the end users -- how many people are using library services and what benefits are derived from those services. In her testimony Frankel stressed the varied activities libraries conduct, such as relationships with Headstart groups, evening programs for young adults and technology training. Frankel presented the President's FY99 budget request for the IMLS Office of Library Services at $146,340,000. She stressed the accomplishments made in the first year of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), noting the "seamless transition" from the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) to LSTA. Understanding the "important sense of place libraries create in communities," Frankel said she had built a strong foundation for a solid relationship with the library community by meeting with groups at the state and national level and through visiting libraries throughout the country. Frankel said that administrative costs were less now than in the year of transition and she expected them to continue at no more than two percent. Following up on the Chairman's statement at last year's hearing, Frankel said she understood the need for compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act and for comparing "apples with apples and oranges with oranges". During questioning, Frankel said she would report back on the status of $24 million in construction funds from FY97 to FY98 and if any of those dollars would carry over to FY99. Porter followed up by asking why those funds were not deducted from the FY99 budget request. Frankel stated that those funds had been awarded prior to the creation of IMLS and did not apply to new funds for FY99. In response to Porter's emphasis on evaluation, baselines and targets, Frankel said she expected all evaluation mechanisms established by August 1998. She said that some of the evaluation was difficult -- sometimes privacy was an issue -- and that she would work to make sure evaluation would be confined to "what can be measured." In response to what she thought the library 20-25 years from now might look like, Frankel said that the library might look the same on the outside but would probably look different inside. She said that the importance of technology will be profound and is yet to be fully understood, adding that "libraries would always be good places." Porter said librarians were experts in cutting through data and finding information. Frankel added that librarians call themselves information navigators. Porter said that the staff had found IMLS to be a well run agency and they had difficulty drawing up hearing questions. He suggested she might share her management secrets with other government agencies. Rep. Pelosi said she "applauds what library services are able to do in unserved areas," and thanked Frankel for her leadership. _________________________________________________________________ TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE Applications are now available for the FY98 Technology Innovation Challenge Grants Program. According to the Federal Register notice (March 5, 1998, vol. 63, no. 43, pp. 11077-11081 and 11081-11082), the 1998 application guidelines will be similar to the guidelines for the previous competitions. However, the priority will be on teacher preparation and professional development. New application guidelines and a "notice of priority and selection criteria" to complete this year's application are required. While the program eligibility requirements remain the same, the application must be submitted by a local education agency (LEA) on behalf of a consortium. The consortium should include other local educational agencies, state education agencies (SEA), private schools, institutions of higher education (IHE), businesses, and other community organizations. The deadline for receipt of applications is May 29, 1998. An estimated 20 awards over a project period of five years will be awarded. The estimated available funds is $30,000,000 with the estimated average size of awards $1,500,000 per year. The complete application package for the 1998 Technology Innovation Challenge Grants competition, including guidelines, forms, and relevant Federal Register notices, as well as descriptions & home pages of previous awardees is available at http://www.ed.gov/Technology/challenge/ or call 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) for applications. Note: A list of areas that have been designated as Empowerment Zones & Enterprise Communities is published in the Federal Register notice available online at http://ocfo.ed.gov/gophroot/4fedreg/4finrule/030598b.txt For further information contact Elizabeth Payer or Shirley Steele, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research & Improvement, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Suite 522, Washington, DC 20208-5544. Telephone: (202) 208-3882. E-mail addresses are: elizabeth_payer@ed.gov or shirley_steele@ed.gov. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8am & 8pm, Eastern time, Monday through Friday. _________________________________________________________________ EVEN START STATEWIDE FAMILY LITERACY GRANTS The Department of Education has announced the availability of state grants for the Even Start Statewide Family Literacy Initiative. The available funds is $1,000,000 with an estimated five awards to receive a range of $100,000-$250,000. State grants must be matched by receiving states. This year's priority will be statewide family literacy initiatives that coordinate their activities with State and local endeavors under the America Reads Challenge initiative, including Federal Work-Study tutoring programs and America Reads/Read*Write*Now pilot sites. In addition grants should develop the state's capacity to coordinate and integrate existing resources that support family literacy and core family literacy components (early childhood education, adult basic and secondary education, and parenting education), and especially "resources focusing on young children's cognitive and language development, and parents' involvement in that early development and English literacy for families with limited English proficiency." The full application notice in the Federal Register of April 1, 1998 (v63, n62, pp. 15993-16022) is the application package. The deadline for applications is June 29, 1998. For further information contact Patricia McKee, Compensatory Education Programs, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, (202)260-0991. Department of Education web sites are http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg/announce.htm or http://www.ed.gov/news.html. _________________________________________________________________ LITERACY LEADER FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM ANNOUNCED The National Institute for Literacy has announced the Literacy Leader Fellowship Program, designed to provide federal financial assistance to adult learners and to individuals pursuing careers in adult education or literacy in the areas of instruction, research or innovation. Approximately $100,000 is available to an estimated 3 awardees, with award amounts ranging from $30,000-$50,000. The notice was published in the Federal Register (April 1, v63, n62, pp. 15899-15900). The deadline for transmittal of applications is May 27, 1998. For further information or to receive an application, contact Julie Gedden, National Institute for Literacy (202) 632-1515, or see http://www.nifl.gov/activities/fllwhome.htm _________________________________________________________________ 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. 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