ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 108 October 25, 1999 In this issue: [1] Senate, House School Library Media Specialists Bills: Action Needed [2] Senate Conducts Hearing on Proposed Closing of NTIS [1] Senate, House School Library Media Specialists Bills: Action Needed Thanks to all school library supporters who sent e-mail in response to our requests for more sponsors for S. 1262, the Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training, and Advanced Technology Assistance Act and H.R. 3008, the Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training, and Advanced Technology Assistance Act (see the October 7 and July 28 ALAWONs at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/alwn8102.html and http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/alwn8077.html). It may be a good idea to follow up your e-mail with a telephone call, either to Capitol Hill (the U.S. Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224- 3121), or to the district office of your Senator or Representative. Congressional aides also have suggested that supporters mail their e-mail letters to their representatives. Several pieces of legislation have passed the House -- H.R. 2, which deals with reauthorization of Title I assistance, and H.R. 2300, which allows flexibility in using federal aid in exchange for student improvement. Both bills are part of the House Education and the Workforce attempt to pass ESEA reauthorization in parts. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) is circulating a draft outline of their proposal which at this stage does not include S. 1262, Sen. Jack Reed's (D-RI) proposal for school library media resources, although the bill's sponsors include almost all members of the minority side of the committee. It is clear that more work needs to be accomplished to get the message to the other members of the committee about the importance of S. 1262. ACTION NEEDED: Message: Adequate school library resources are central to the successful operation of an educational institution, not only for beginning readers, but also for emerging scholars and as an aide to teachers trying to incorporate technology into their curricula. What is being proposed is not so much a new program as a return to the dedicated school library support originally legislated in ESEA in 1965. House: School library supporters should continue to contact Representatives asking them to support and cosponsor H.R. 3008. Unless many sponsors sign on to the bill, it will not have a chance of being included in any of the remaining bills to be reported out of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Senate: School library supporters should contact Senate members of the HELP Committee expressing the importance of inclusion of S. 1262 in the Senate proposal. The members of the Committee and the current cosponsors of S. 1262 are listed below: Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee ST-PTY Senator Phone Fax (202 Area Code) AL R Jeff Sessions 224-4124 224-3149 AR R Tim Hutchinson 224-2353 228-3973 CT D Christopher J. Dodd 224-2823 224-1083 IA D Tom Harkin 224-3254 224-9369 KS R Sam Brownback 224-6521 228-1265 MA D Edward M. Kennedy, Rnk 224-4543 224-2417 ME R Susan M. Collins 224-2523 224-2693 MD D Barbara A. Mikulski 224-4654 224-8858 MN D Paul Wellstone 224-5641 224-8438 NE R Chuck Hagel 224-4224 224-5213 NH R Judd Gregg 224-3324 224-4952 NM D Jeff Bingaman 224-5521 224-2852 OH R Mike DeWine 224-2315 224-6519 RI D Jack F. Reed 224-4642 224-4680 TN R Bill Frist 224-3344 228-1264 VT R James M. Jeffords, Chair 224-5141 228-0338 WA D Patty Murray 224-2621 224-0238 WY R Michael B. Enzi 224-3424 228-0359 Cosponsors of S. 1262, Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training, and Advanced Technology Assistance Act CT D Christopher J. Dodd MD D Paul S. Sarbanes MA D Edward M. Kennedy MA D John F. Kerry MN D Paul Wellstone MS R Thad Cochran MT D Max S. Baucus NV D Harry M. Reid NM D Jeff Bingaman RI D Jack F. Reed - Original Sponsor SD D Thomas A. Daschle WA D Patty Murray Senate Conducts Hearing on Proposed Closing of NTIS On October 21, the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on the proposed closing of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Testifying were Reps. James Moran (D- 8-VA) and Tom Davis (R-11-VA) as well as Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert Mallett, who is responsible for the Commerce Department's decision to close NTIS. Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) chaired the Senate hearing; the witnesses included: Michael DiMario, public printer of the Government Printing Office, Joan Challinor, member of the National Commission on Library and Information Science(NCLIS), and Bill Clark, executive committee member of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1627, at NTIS. Rep. Davis represents the congressional district where NTIS is located and many of its 250 employees live. Rep. Moran represents a neighboring district and reflects bi-partisan concerns about the proposal. Both congressmen questioned not just the future of the NTIS employees, but the services provided by NTIS to distribute government scientific and technical information nationally and worldwide. Both also were concerned that the Commerce Department made its proposal without input from stakeholders -- NTIS employees and the Washington, D.C.-area congressional delegation. DiMario testified that if NTIS was closed, the Government Printing Office (GPO) would be the logical place for all NTIS functions because of its similar collection, maintenance, and dissemination functions. He emphasized that having NTIS materials available through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) would help advance public access to government information and bring major resolution to fugitive document problems. Challinor submitted for the hearing record a March 1999 NCLIS study, Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/nclisassessment/report.html ), that revealed a general lack of an overall, coherent federal policy on government information issues, especially during this "hybrid" period when both paper and electronic formats are needed and used. She argued that more study was needed on NTIS and offered NCLIS as a logical place for further study. NCLIS, which has a mandate to advise Congress and the President about these matters, could conduct such a study within 3-6 months, Challinor said, and the approach would help limit negative unintended consequences. Clark testified that the Commerce Department's proposal was flawed, and the financial justifications used to propose closing NTIS had no merit or basis in fact. Clark also argued that NTIS employees provide outstanding customer services, and the agency serves other government agencies who need dissemination services. One of the more spirited exchanges of the hearing followed Clark's comments when DiMario and Clark briefly debated the relative customer services between GPO and NTIS. In August the Commerce Department announced its intention to seek legislation authorizing the closing of NTIS and moving its collection and dissemination functions to the Library of Congress (LC). This Senate hearing followed a similar House hearing held in September where various witnesses, including a witness for ALA and five other library associations, testified that the NTIS functions are extremely important to the American public and should be maintained (see the September 16 ALAWON at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/alwn8090.html ). The Commerce Department does not have an official draft bill to be introduced into Congress, although one is expected shortly. It does not appear that the Commerce Department will budge from its proposal to move the collection and dissemination functions to LC. Some observers predict that the Commerce Department will succeed in its proposal to close NTIS within the next 12-15 months. Yet others suggest that the proposal will languish and that nothing will be done by Congress in the next few months. While GPO indicated its willingness to take on the whole NTIS package, other observers suggested a "hybrid" solution that would recognize the different roles of GPO, LC and the National Archives instead. The debate will continue and ALA will continue to monitor and participate in this information policy issue. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. 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