ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 8 February 9, 2000 In this issue: [1] Library of Congress, GPO Appropriations Hearings Held [2] Free Subscriptions Available to IMLS's Online Newsletter, Primary Source [1] Library of Congress, GPO Appropriations Hearings Held Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), chair of the Legislation Subcommittee of House Appropriations, conducted hearings on January 27 for the House Administration budget and the Library of Congress, and on February 1 for the Government Printing Office budget. At the outset of both hearings, Rep. Taylor declared there was a "tighter budget than we'd hoped." Librarian of Congress James Billington and Deputy Librarian of Congress Donald Scott presented the FY2001 budget request at $428.1 million with $33.6 million requested in authority to use receipts. Dr. Billington stated that part of the requested net increase was needed to fund mandatory pay increases and an increase of employees. He thanked the Subcommittee and Congress for passing the legislation required to celebrate the Library's Bicentennial year and for being the "greatest single library patron." He expanded on the American Memory digitized project. In the next year Spain and Italy will be sharing digitized material with the Library of Congress. He described thirty-six other possible collaborations with libraries that have unique content but no funding to digitize the material. He welcomed these content collaborations and hoped to encourage others. The Library is planning training and summer institutes in partnership with the private sector. Billington described the Digital Futures Plan, a plan to bridge the gap between the information haves and have nots. He also mentioned that the Ad Council is donating its services to publicize the April 24 debut of the America's Stories Web site. Scott spoke of the Library's security plan and the four levels of inventory it is implementing. The integrated library system has made it possible to do inventory control; other security measures for the collection are in process. While gaps still exist, the current security plan should be complete within four years, he said. When preservation and inventory are added, it could take a total of eight years to accomplish. Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) asked whether LC and the Congressional Research Service were able to compete for new, quality employees. Dan Mulholland, director of the Congressional Research Service, explained CRS's system of recruiting new employees before the current employees retire so as to provide training and some accumulated knowledge to the new hires. On February 1, the Subcommittee considered the FY2001 budget request of the Government Printing Office. Public Printer Michael DiMario and Superintendent of Documents Francis Buckley presented GPO's budget request of $121.3 million for printing and binding, $34.5 million for the Superintendent of Documents' account and a request of $6 million for the revolving fund. The $6 million would cover extraordinary expenses associated with replacement of GPO's air-conditioning system. DiMario said the projected workload included the reprinting of the U.S. Code, which is done every six years. Printing and binding costs projections were based on historical costs for Presidential election years. DiMario agreed that some electronic changes had reduced costs now that nearly 50 percent of all products are electronic. He said use of GPO Access database services (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html) has increased considerably, and investment is needed to keep it up-to-date and operating effectively. DiMario cited two changes to Title 44 that would be necessary to implement his recommendations: (1) the salary of the public printer and the deputy public printer should be at a level commensurate with other Congressional support personnel, and (2) an adjustment to the Title 44 provision that allows the Superintendent to discount documents for book dealers. He explained that the current discount is no longer consistent with industry discounts. Buckley said that while over 60 percent of new titles are electronic, there is still need for paper copies -- such as the recognized official version of the U.S. Code, and the Congressional Record. Law librarians, lawyers and others need the paper copied for the recognized legal citations. Rep. Taylor said the House of Representatives no longer sends the Congressional Record to constituents but believed that the Senate still does. Responding to a question from Rep. Taylor about additional employees, Buckley said that four are needed for cataloging and indexing, and three for GPO Access, telephone support and library inspectors for the depository library system. He detailed plans to list GPO's documents on electronic services like Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. These outlets might broaden the amount of purchases, Buckley added. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), asked about the recent computer hacking of the Thomas system (http://thomas.loc.gov). DiMario explained a brand new firewall had been installed. They are constantly looking at the issue of security, and will be hiring another network security specialist. Rep. Hoyer also complimented GPO on receiving a professional award as the best printing agency, and said that Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) had been effusive in complimenting GPO on production of the Starr Report as well as the Microsoft opinion. [2] Free Subscriptions Available to IMLS's Online Newsletter, Primary Source Note: The following is a February 9 news release from the Institute of Museum and Library Service. For more information, contact Eileen Maxwell at 202-606-8339. Primary Source, the Institute of Museum and Library Service's new online newsletter, was hailed in Internet Scout Report (University of Wisconsin's Internet publication compiled by librarian professionals) as an exceptional resource for researchers and educators. This month's issue includes President Clinton's funding request for libraries, upcoming deadline dates for library grant applications, and highlights of projects at Muncie Public Library (IN) and Marathon County Public Library (WI). To read this issue and to subscribe to Primary Source visit the IMLS Web site at http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/new_imls.htm#ps ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. 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