ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 18 March 3, 2000 In this issue: [1] Association of American Publishers Will Support School Library Legislation; Action Needed [2] Action Needed: Sponsors Needed for Charitable Contributions Legislation [3] Reading Excellence Program Requirement Comments Solicited [1] Association of American Publishers Will Support School Library Legislation; Action Needed On March 1, Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, sent a letter to Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), sponsor of the Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources, Training and Advanced Technology Assistance Act (S. 1262). In the letter, Schroeder promised the support of her members for the legislation. "It's a national disgrace that our K-12 school libraries are packed with such dated material," wrote Schroeder. "It sends a terrible message to young children that we don't care enough to give them current information, but tell them how important research is at the same time." Also on March 1 -- the opening day of the markup of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- Sen. Reed read from a library book on careers. The book was copyrighted in the 1950s. A few days earlier, on February 29, he joined other Senate Democrats and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Richard Riley at a press conference and read from another out-of-date school library book. The markup for S. 1262 will reconvene on Tuesday, March 7. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters are urged ask their Senators to support S. 1262. The ALA Legislative Action Center at congress.ala.org can be used to send e-mail letters of support to their Senators. Please also mail a copy of your letter to the Senate office, since not all offices deal with electronic mail in the same way. If you have any questions, or if you want to share feedback from your congressional office, please contact Mary Costabile, associate director for ALA's Office of Government Relations, at 800-941-8478 or mcostabile@alawash.org. -- Mary Costabile [2] Action Needed: Sponsors Needed for Charitable Contributions Legislation Although the Congressional session may be a short one because of election primaries and political conventions, a tax bill may again be possible. Often in major tax legislation, smaller bills may be included. Historically, libraries have benefited from tax deductions created by the donor for charitable contributions of literary, musical, artistic or scholarly compositions. When this tax deduction was allowed it the past, many urban and rural libraries profited through manuscript donations and other memorabilia from authors and composers. H.R. 3249, a bill proposed by Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY), would amend the IRS Code to provide a deduction equal to fair market value for charitable contributions of literary, musical, artistic or scholarly compositions created by the donor. The bill's co- sponsors include Reps. Ben Cardin (D-MD); Nancy Johnson (R-CT); Phil English (R-PA); Jim McDermott (D-WA); Sheila Jackson-Lee (D- TX); Mark Foley (R-FL); Jim Ramstad (R-MN); Karen Thurman (D-FL); Jerold Nadler (D-NY); Jennifer Dunn (R-WA); Steve Horn (R-CA); Louise Slaughter (D-NY); Richard Neal (D-MA); Jerry Weller (R-IL); William Coyne (D-PA); Robert Matsui (D-CA); Carolyn Maloney (D- NY); and Sue Kelly (R-NY). Presently supported by The Association of Art Museum Directors, H.R. 3249 has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. A number of the sponsors are also members of the committee (see http://www.house.gov/ways_means). ACTION NEEDED: Urge your legislator to sign on as a sponsor of H.R. 3249. This proposed change in the tax code could benefit and enrich the collections of school, academic, and public libraries if enacted. The U.S. Capitol Switchboard phone number is 202/224- 3121. Members of Congress should contact Hugh Hatcher in Rep. Houghton's office at 202/225-3161 or Dave Koshgarian in Rep. Cardin's office at 202/225-4016. -- Mary Costabile [3] Reading Excellence Program Requirement Comments Solicited On February 22, the Department of Education published notice in the Federal Register (v. 65, no. 35) of proposed program requirements for Reading Excellence program grants for FY2000. Comments must be received by March 23, 2000. The program focus is on children from kindergarten through grade three, with the following absolute priority: "Projects that exclusively fund, at the subgrant level, activities to improve kindergarten through grade three reading instruction and related early childhood, professional development, family literacy, extended learning and tutorial activities." Priority will also be given to state education agencies whose States have modified, are modifying, or provide an assurance of modifying within 18 months, the elementary school teacher certification requirements. The modification must increase the training and methods of teaching reading required for certification to reflect scientifically based reading research. Comments may be addressed to Joseph Conaty, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., S.W., Room 5C141, Washington, D.C. 20202-6200, or e-mailed to comments@ed.gov. The words, "Reading Excellence Program" must be included in the subject line of the e- mail. -- Mary Costabile ****** 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. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff; Editor: Deirdre Herman. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.