ALAWON v4n38 (May 5, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n38 ****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 38 May 5, 1995 In this issue: (213 lines) LIBRARY LEGISLATIVE DAY - MAY 9, 1995 KEY ISSUES AND MESSAGES STATEMENT CONFEREES ON RESCISSION BILL ANNOUNCED ACTION NEEDED *************************************************************************** LIBRARY LEGISLATIVE DAY - MAY 9, 1995 KEY ISSUES AND MESSAGES as of May 4, 1995 1. LIBRARY SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY ACT NEEDED NOW Congress should pass LSTA quickly because it's a proposal cooperatively developed by the library community to: o consolidate, simplify, and update the Library Services and Construction Act o reduce 8 titles to 2 key priorities for libraries -- - information access through technology - information empowerment through special services o increase flexibility and accountability o emphasize libraries as change agents and self-help institutions, through federal/state partnerships LSTA RELATES DIRECTLY TO NATIONAL PRIORITIES o Information Age Technology. LSTA will help libraries, as local on- ramps for the information superhighway, to ensure that access is equitable, content is useful and usable, and expert help is available. LSTA will also help ensure the widest and most efficient use of publicly funded library resources through technology-based sharing of information. o National Education Goals. LSTA will help libraries contribute to school readiness, student achievement, and lifelong learning. The LSTA emphasis on services for children in poverty will help ensure that all students make progress toward these goals. The LSTA emphasis on literacy will reinforce the library role as an institution for self-help and self-empowerment. 2. FUND LIBRARY PROGRAMS AT $1 PER PERSON Help libraries use new technology and empower people by-- Funding the 3 major federal library programs-- o Library Services and Construction Act (restructured as LSTA), o Higher Education Act title II, and o School Library Media Resources Program (ESEA III-F) --at a total of $260 million for FY96. That's about $1 per person at the federal level for America's premier lifelong learning and self-help institution--the library. The United States is currently spending only 57 cents, about the cost of a cup of coffee. Special note on LSCA III: While Congress is considering the proposed LSTA, appropriators will begin the FY96 funding process based on the current LSCA. The President would zero out LSCA III, interlibrary cooperation, where most technological innovation in libraries is supported. The President has recommended a welcome modest increase in LSCA I, public library services. However, funding of LSCA III at at least the current level, is critical. FEDERAL ROLE IS SMALL, MIGHTY, AND CRUCIAL Federal stimulus funds are concentrated on important federal goals: o To ensure that the existing information infrastructure of libraries is technologically equipped to perform governmental functions for the public cost effectively, such as - supporting literacy and lifelong learning - organizing and providing access to government information - undergirding economic development by providing jobs information and supporting small businesses - providing consumer health information o To provide incentives for interlibrary cooperation, since most library funding is local, with services driven by local priorities that may restrict services to legal residents of a political jurisdiction or faculty/students of an educational institution o To adapt new technologies to identify, preserve, and share library and information resources across institutional, local, and state boundaries o To extend outreach to those for whom library service requires extra effort or special materials (such as new readers, people with disabilities) o To support education, research, and demonstrations in the library and information science field 3. TWO KEY PROVISIONS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION The Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995, S. 652, is expected to reach the Senate floor in May. Two key provisions affect libraries directly: 1. Support the bipartisan Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon amendment to provide incremental cost-based rates for telecommunications services for schools, libraries, and rural health-care providers. This amendment is needed to ensure schools and libraries public access to the full range of telecommunications services at affordable rates. 2. Remove from S. 652 the Exon-Gorton "Communications Decency Act" amendment that would expand prohibitions against obscene or harassing use of the telephone to all telecommunications devices, and could lead to censorship of private online communications in violation of the First Amendment. Senator Leahy has proposed a less intrusive alternative, the Child Protection, User Empowerment, and Free Expression in Interactive Media Study Bill (S. 714), calling for a study by the Justice and Commerce Departments of technological means of empowering users to control electronic information they receive. 4. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Several pending measures would affect government information dissemination functions. Any measure considered by Congress should-- o Guarantee a centralized distribution system that ensures timely, full and no fee public access to government information in all formats through depository libraries o Fund the Federal Depository Library Program at the level necessary to comply with statutory requirements and to ensure its effectiveness and participation in the emerging national information infrastructure These provisions are now accomplished efficiently and economically through the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents function that-- o Provides 20 million copies of 64,000 individual publications in all formats annually to depository libraries at a cost of only $1 per copy to acquire, catalog, and mail o Provides free online access to many of the nation's most important federal documents to depositories and to offsite users through cooperative Internet gateways at an expanding number of depository libraries The GPO SuDocs FY96 budget request of $30.3 million should be approved. *************************************************************************** CONFEREES ON RESCISSION BILL ANNOUNCED On Tuesday, May 2, conferees were appointed in the House of Representatives on HR 1158, the FY95 Rescission bill. The conferees met May 3 and may meet again the week of May 8-12. Members of the conference committee from the House are: Bob Livingston, (R-LA), Chair of House Appropriations Committee; John Myers (R-IN); Ralph Regula (R-OH); Jerry Lewis (R-CA); John Porter (R-IL); Harold Rogers (R-KY); Joe Skeen (R-NM); Frank Wolf (R-VA); Tom DeLay (R-TX); Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV); Jim Lightfoot (R-IA); Sonny Callahan (R-AL); David Obey (D-WI); Sidney Yates (D-IL); Louis Stokes (D-OH); Tom Bevill (D- AL); Vic Fazio (D-CA); Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Richard Durbin (D-IL); Ronald Coleman (D-TX); Alan Mollohan (D-WV). Senate conferees are the members of the Appropriations Committee. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters from the above states who are coming to town for Library Legislative Day should speak to their Representatives about the cuts in library programs. The Senate cuts are much less severe. Information will be in your folders as to specific numbers. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Contributing to this issue: Carol C. Henderson, Mary R. Costable, and Claudette W. Tennant; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. 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